BIOGRAPHY
Draymond Jamal Green Sr. was born on March 4, 1990, in Saginaw, Michigan. He is a power forward in the NBA.
Green attended Saginaw High School in Saginaw, Michigan, where he played for coach Lou Dawkins. As a sophomore in 2005–06, he averaged 12 points and 11 rebounds per game. As a junior in 2006–07, he averaged 25 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals per game as he led Saginaw to the Class A State Championship and a 26–1 record.
On November 14, 2007, Green signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball for Michigan State. Green had also considered signing with Michigan and Kentucky.
As a senior in 2007–08, Green averaged 20 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocked shots per game in leading the Saginaw High Trojans to a 27–1 record, a No. 4 national ranking by USA Today and a Class A State Championship for a second straight year. He was subsequently named captain of the Detroit Free Press All-State Dream Team, and was rated the No. 36 player in the ESPN 150, including the No. 13 power forward.
As a junior in 2010–11, Green averaged 12.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. On February 10, 2011, Green followed Charlie Bell and Magic Johnson to be the third Michigan State men's basketball player to record a triple-double. In the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, he recorded his second triple-double of the season and the seventh in NCAA tournament history in the loss against UCLA. He went on to earn third-team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight year.
Green represented the United States national team at the 2011 Summer Universiade men's basketball tournament in Shenzhen, China. Team USA finished in fifth place in the tournament as Green averaged 8.6 points and 6.0 rebounds with a 46.3% shooting percentage.
As a senior in 2011–12, Green captained the Spartans to a regular season Big Ten championship and Big Ten Tournament championship. The 2011–12 squad compiled a regular season 24–7 record and a 13–5 mark in Big Ten play, good for the team's 13th conference title and the third in the previous four years. Green was named Big Ten Men's Basketball Player of the week four times during the season; no other Spartan in history has won the award more than three times in a single season. On March 5, 2012, Green was named Big Ten Player of the Year by the coaches and media and was a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection. On March 10, 2012, Draymond passed Johnny Green as the second all-time rebounding leader at MSU, finishing the game with 1,046 career rebounds.
On March 16, 2012, Green recorded his third career triple-double against LIU-Brooklyn in the second round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament and joined Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson as just the third player in NCAA history to have two career triple-doubles in the NCAA tournament. On March 22, 2012, in a loss to Louisville, Green collected 16 rebounds, bringing him to 1,096 career rebounds, the most in Michigan State history ahead of Greg Kelser. He ended his career as one of three players in Michigan State history with over 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Green was selected with the 35th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. On July 30, 2012, he signed a three-year, $2.6 million contract with the Warriors. In his NBA debut in the Warriors' season opener on October 31 against the Phoenix Suns, Green played one minute, made one defensive rebound, and committed one foul. Green gradually received more playing time in subsequent games, especially in the wake of injuries to Brandon Rush and Richard Jefferson. After getting only marginal floor time at the beginning of the season, by November 22, Green was playing 15–20 minutes per game, and by December 9, as Green gained a bigger role on the team, the Warriors had won 8 of 10 games. On December 12, Green made the winning layup with 0.9 second left in the Warriors' 97–95 win over the defending champion Miami Heat.
On January 2, 2015, Green recorded his first career triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists in a 126–105 win over the Toronto Raptors. He went on to finish runner-up in both the Defensive Player of the Year Award and the Most Improved Player Award. Green capped off a great season with an NBA championship and a triple-double in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, playing a center position role in place of Andrew Bogut. He became just the sixth player in NBA history to record a triple-double in an NBA Finals clinching game, joining Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, James Worthy, Tim Duncan and LeBron James.
On July 9, 2015, Green re-signed with the Warriors to a five-year, $82 million contract.
In June 2016, Green was named in the United States national squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He helped Team USA win the gold medal in Rio.
At the end-of-season awards night, Green was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first player in Warriors history to earn the award.
He played a key role on the Warriors' 2015, 2017, and 2018 championship teams.
On August 3, 2019, Green signed a four-year, $100 million contract extension to remain with the team.
In the summer of July 2021, Draymond Green won his second Olympic Gold Medal at the Tokyo Olympics.