There’s always more to every story. Including Steve Kerr’s recollection of the time he fined Drake for making Draymond Green and Steph Curry late for a Warriors plane ride.
The Golden State coach drew a bunch of laughs last week when he told reporters about the time he fined Green, Curry, and the rap superstar $500 each after a post-game chat session between the three at old Oracle Arena made them tardy for a trip to LA. Drake, who was similarly on his way to Los Angeles, rode with the Warriors as Curry’s guest that evening under a special rule Kerr installed where he allowed players to bring friends on a couple of plane rides every season.
Kerr is able to joke about it years after it happened—Drake actually referenced his trip on the team plane in “Free Smoke”—but let the record show the Golden State coach was livid with two of his stars that night for holding up the rest of the team.
“Steve Kerr is making light of it now, but he was pissed off. Like really pissed off,” Green tells us.
It’s Thursday afternoon and before suiting up for a matchup with the Knicks at Chase Center in San Francisco, we caught up via Zoom with Green, Golden State’s 30-year-old Swiss Army Knife of a forward who has three rings, has made two All-Star appearances, and is among the 50 best players in today’s game, according to us. We just had to ask him about the incident and he offered up more a few more details about it and also whether or not Drizzy has been sidelined with a knee injury thanks to Curry, as some have alleged. Finally, Green talked to us about his partnership with LARQ, the hydration brand, on a sleek new water bottle he helped design. Most notably, one percent of proceeds from the sale of the DG23 Edition water bottle will go to support 501cTHREE providing clean water to communities in need while also addressing climate change issues.
{This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
Is this the start to the season you envisioned for the Warriors or is it way different from you thought when the season tipped Dec. 22?
Coming into a situation like we were coming into, you don’t know what to expect. Over the course of the last two years there’s been such turnover of our roster. As someone who has been here—I’m in my ninth season now—all of my years for the first seven years, and especially the five leading up to last year…you go in and kind of know what to expect. Coming into camp this year you kind of had these hopes for what to expect, but you don’t quite know what to expect. Is the team going to mesh? You’re trying to figure out different personnel things—this guy likes to go right, this guy likes to go left, how can we put this guy in a better position to be successful. You’re trying to figure out all those things so to say I had any expectation other than trying to figure out the potential of this team would be a lie. It’s a bunch of new guys, and now let’s figure it out and see how we can make this work.
Now in saying that, I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m satisfied with the start. At the end of the day we’re 8-6 [entering Thursday’s game with New York], you look at the standings right now, that’s not horrible. And I think we have lost some games that we could have won. Am I satisfied? No. But what I will say is I’m pleased with the start because I think as we’ve lost some games we should’ve won we’ve also pulled out a couple that we weren’t expected to win and that was big for us and team morale. I can see from Game 1 to at Game 15 the growth. And the most uplifting part about it is we haven’t even scratched the surface of where I think this team can grow and that’s been great.
What do you think the ceiling for this team is because expectations have varied depending on who you’re talking to?
I’m not sure what the ceiling of this team is because I think there’s so much room for growth. So to kind of put roof on it and bottle it up is not the right thing to do. We have a very young squad, with the exception of—well, I’m not that old—I mean, I have a couple of teammates born in the 2000s, which is absolutely insane. I don’t necessarily know what the ceiling is for this team, but I think it’s very high because I think we have a ton of room for improvement. And we have a James Wiseman, who I think is going to be a stud in this league for a long time, who’s now playing his 17th game post-high school. There’s so much room for growth there.
You have young Kelly Oubre playing essentially his first meaningful basketball of his career. [Andrew] Wiggins same thing. You know, when you start to look at it and lay all of that stuff out and you look at our team and then you ask yourself the question: With 20 more games of experience, where could this team be? With 30 more games of experience, where could this team be? It’s a very, very, very exciting thing. I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface.
Steve Kerr’s story about fining Drake for making you and Steph late for a team plane, was that Drake’s fault?
We definitely all got fined. Drake was definitely at fault because we were standing in the parking lot for an hour after the game, just talking. Then we realized, oh shoot, we have a plane to catch. Ironically, he was heading to LA too so he just hopped on the plane with us. But it wasn’t good. Steve Kerr is making light of it now, but he was pissed off. Like really pissed off. And if I’m not mistaken, I think we got our ass kicked the next day.
So you’re blaming Drake for that also?
Absolutely.
We tried asking Steph directly last month if he was responsible for Drake’s knee injury. He didn’t confirm it, but he didn’t deny it, either. Can you you confirm who is responsible for, reportedly, Drake’s torn ACL that maybe happened while he was trying to guard Steph in a game?
I have no idea. I thought Drake had knee issues on tour before and he just kind of gutted through it as the warrior and soldier and young GOAT that he is. He just grinded through it to give the people the show they came to see. So was it the same knee issue he’s dealing with now? I don’t know. Did Steph do it? I’m not sure of that, either. But I’m happy he’s recovering well.
You collabed with LARQ to create a unique water bottle so tell me how partnership got started.
The partnership got started when Danny Sillman, who’s a close friend and business partner, had come across the company and was just in contact with them and said to me, “Hey, have you ever heard of LARQ?” “No, I’ve never heard of it.” And so he sent me to the website and immediately called me and gave me a complete rundown of the company. It immediately hit home due to the water filtration part and understanding everything that had been going on Flint, Michigan. Obviously, me being from Saginaw, Michigan, which is 25 minutes away from Flint, I’ve kind of been right through it all and just understanding everything that had gone wrong there. When Danny brought it up, the first thing I thought of was, “Wow, this could be great for kids in Flint.” As we all know, no surprise, they don’t have clean water. I was thinking I could help people back home.
And then I started to dive into the company, the CEO, myself being a little involved in the tech world being out here in San Francisco and making so many friends that are impacting that world and just having a little understanding of that. It checks all the boxes. Then you get down to the product, which is great. The water filtration part is great. But the bottles are sleek and nice looking and I think that makes a ton of difference. When you walk around and you’re carrying a Starbucks cup, you’re not buying the coffee; you’re buying the cup. There’s a sleekness about that cup that you walk around and you feel good about carrying that cup. Immediately I started to look at the bottle and it’s sleek, it feels good, it’s easy to carry, and all of those things. I think this could possibly be a good fit.
