Warriors' Draymond Green Says He Received A Draft Promise From The Indiana Pacers in 2012

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has been special, outperforming all draft expectations. The Michigan State product was skipped over by every team before the Warriors used their third selection on him. He's now a four-time All-Star.

Draymond Green the 35th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, revealed that he rececived multiple promises before the draft. And none of them followed through.

He said on his podcast, joined by Warriors star Stephen Curry for this episode, that the Pacers made a promise to him — along with a few other teams.

"I had a promise from Indiana," he said. "I had a promise if I was still there Memphis would take me, Miami would take me. All these that told me if I was still there, they would take me. None of 'em did."

Those teams were all in the mid-20s, one after another.

The Grizzlies took Troy Wroten, the Pacers drafted Miles Plumlee at 26 and then the Heat then took Arnett Moultrie.

None of those three players are still in the league.

For the Pacers (or any team), drafting in the mid-20s can be a crapshoot. But Green was a hard-nosed, smart, winning player out of Michigan State University. He was the pick. But nope.

Green prepped for the draft process in East Lansing, Michigan. This was before agency pre-draft camps were a huge thing. But once he was drafted, it would be his first time living outside of Michigan.

Green, a three-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, didn't get selected until the second round — at pick 35. And by the way, the Warriors had two other selections before him: Harrison Barnes (7) and Festus Ezeli (30).

He took it personal that he was still available at 35. And he can name every player taken before him. Impressive.

Green is still playing, but he's already taken an active role in the media. In addition to launching his own podcast, he signed a deal to join TNT Sports earlier this season. And during an appearance to talk about All-Stars, he shared his honest opinion about where the Pacers were at before they made three deals.

"The Pacers stink this year," he said from the Warriors' facility. "I actually grew up in the Midwest watching Jermaine O'Neal and those guys, so I'm a big fan of the organization. But they stink this year. I actually didn't think (Domantas) Sabonis had a chance (to be an All-Star) at all. He's a great player, but not this year."

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