Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green shares his Indiana Pacers draft story with Paul George
On a recent episode of Podcast P, the podcast hosted by NBA star Paul George, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green shared that he had several pre-draft interactions with the Indiana Pacers ahead of the 2013 NBA Draft.
"I actually worked out for Indiana twice," Green told George. At the time, George played for the Pacers and had just guided the team to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the first time.
The blue and gold had the 26th overall pick that year. Green, who is a four-time All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year, should not have been available. But he fell far in the draft and ended up going in the second round.
That meant he was available when Indiana was on the clock. But despite working out for the team twice, Green was not chosen by Indiana. Larry Bird, the Pacers lead decision maker at the time, stepped away for health reasons a few days before the draft.
"I fell in the draft because they said 'what position will I guard?'," Green recalled multiple teams saying at the time.
In the end, Indiana selected Miles Plumlee at pick 26. He spent one season with the blue and gold before being sent to Phoenix as a part of the package that netted the Pacers Luis Scola. He had a seven-year NBA career.
George and Green laughed about the Plumlee pick coming before Green was selected, which was the wrong decision in retrospect. Even the Warriors, the team that ultimately took Green, didn't pick him until their third chance. They owned the seventh and 30th picks in that draft.
"So there's a chance we could have grabbed you?" George asked Green. "100%," Green replied. "That was very interesting for me."
Green remembered that Bird stepped down the day of his second workout with Indiana. "Your guys passed up on me," he said. He remembers all 34 players chosen before him to this day.
Later in the conversation, the two stars flipped the conversation and discussed what could have been if Golden State had taken George in the 2010 draft. George was selected 10th overall by Indiana, but the Warriors had the sixth selection that year. They took Ekpe Udoh with that pick.
There were multiple chances for Green and George to cross paths in the NBA. Neither of them ended up happening, though both players have ended up having outstanding careers. The Pacers, who ended up losing in the Eastern Conference Finals in both 2013 and 2014, would have been better off with Green in retrospect, but hindsight is 20/20 with the NBA Draft.
Green has four championships with the Warriors while George has reached the Conference Finals three times in his career. The draft conversation between the two stars begins at the 40-minute mark of the episode, and the full podcast can be found here.
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