Draymond Green says there's a double-standard in the NBA that protects teams but alienates players when trade requests are made public.
"At some point, we need to be treated with the same respect and have the same rights that the team can have," Green said Monday after his Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game in which Andre Drummond was benched while the Cavaliers look for a trade for the star centre.
Earlier on Monday both the Cavaliers with Drummond and the Detroit Pistons with Blake Griffin made it publically known that those players would not play another game until a trade can be found. The NBA trade deadline is March 25.
After watching Drummond sit on the sidelines Monday, Green called the situation "b--- s---" and cited numerous examples of players requesting trades and being portrayed as bad apples for doing so -- including the January fallout between James Harden and the Houston Rockets -- while teams can seemingly operate at will without criticism for their actions.
"...As a player, you're the worst person in the world when you want a different situation. But a team can say they're trading you, and that man is to say in shape, he has to stay professional and if not, his career is on the line," Green said. "At some point, this league has to protect the players from embarrassment like that."
