We have a trade to report

The details on my podcast trade with Golden State's Draymond Green ... and the very interesting things he said on our pod alongside Chris Haynes after the swap was agreed

The story is true.

The last time I saw Draymond Green, I offered him a trade.

Golden State was in Dallas on March 22 for a game that the Mavericks would eventually protest (unsuccessfully). I crossed paths with Green in the hallway near the visitors' locker room at the American Airlines Center in Dallas and shot my shot.

My pitch to Green: If you agree to hop on the #thisleague UNCUT podcast I co-host with Turner Sports' Chris Haynes, we'll happily volunteer to join The Draymond Green Show whenever you want to fire questions at us after all these years of you answering all the questions. Home-and-home series!

Deep down, of course, I knew this was also true: Our fledgling pod needed a visit from Green much more than his show needed us. Thankfully, though, he agreed to the lopsided proposal. And what we got was an epic two-part, pre-playoff convo filled with candor, detail and insight on a number of topics.

I urge you to listen to the full two episodes posted for you here:

Yet I do want to feature a handful of quoted highlights from some of the topics he covered as the Warriors begin their title defense Saturday night with a saucy series against the higher-seeded (but wholly unproven) Sacramento Kings, which just might be the most attractive first-round series on the board.

Of the six confirmed first-round matchups heading into Friday night's final two play-in games (Chicago at Miami and Oklahoma City at Minnesota), there are only two other series I see — No. 4 Cavaliers vs. No. 5 Knicks and No. 2 Grizzlies vs. No. 7 Lakers — that have as many layers and the corresponding potential to enthrall as No. 3 Sacramento vs. No. 6 Golden State.

Here's Draymond on ...

His thoughts about the Kings now after admitting during a well-chronicled interview on LeBron James' "The Shop" that he has struggled to get up for games against (formerly) lesser teams like Sacramento:

"You know me, I’ll always stand on everything I say. The Kings [have] sucked. Let’s just face it, since I’ve been in the NBA, they have sucked. They have not made the playoffs since I’ve been in the NBA. So it’s not like some bulletin-board disrespect. It’s actually a fact. They are who [the Warriors] were when I came into the NBA. Yes, they’re changing it. I also said on that episode now [that] the Kings got Mike Brown [as coach], I expect them to change. … I give credit where credit is due. What Mike Brown has gone to Sacramento and done is absolutely amazing. I expect him to continue taking that franchise upward in the right direction. … I give them their props. They’re doing a great job."

Whether he thinks he will finish his career as a Warrior — with his own decision looming on a $27.6 million player option for next season:

"As far as my situation goes, man, I've been here 11 years. I've done everything that you can possibly do here. Why would I want to go somewhere else and try to do it again? To prove to the people that say Draymond can only play on that team — that he can't play anywhere else? Should I try to go prove those people wrong? I've been proving those people wrong. Those same people said I'd never make it in the NBA. So I'm not going to waste my time trying to prove the same idiots wrong that I proved wrong a million times over. I would love to finish my career here. That's been my goal since maybe signing this current contract that I'm on."

His longevity goals — both personally and with Golden State:

"And I also don't want to play 20 years in the NBA. I want to play 15 years in the NBA. So I think it's very realistic that in four more years I'll still be contributing at a high level — I'll still be able to give to a team and live up to the contracts that I'll be on. I do want to be here. As far as the probability goes, I can't necessarily give you that because it's not up to me. … If it's totally up to me, I can 100% tell you I will finish my career here, but that's not something that's totally up to me."

His relationship with Warriors owner Joe Lacob and president of basketball operations Bob Myers:

“I actually understand the business of basketball. And so I do understand why [a new contract] is not totally my decision. And I don't have any hard feelings with that, because I do understand that, at the end of the day, this is a business — this is a multibillion-dollar business and it keeps moving. … I do think I am still upholding my end of the bargain. We’re defending the championship [and] I am still playing at a high level. And I don’t doubt that Joe and Bob and our front office and ownership group will hold up their end of the bargain. They always have. … Contrary to the reports out there, I have zero reason to believe that they won’t hold up their end of the bargain, because they’ve never shown me that.”

Why he did not push for closure from the investigation opened by the team to try to identify who made the video of Green punching Jordan Poole during an October practice publicly available:

"I was never really given a concrete answer on how it came about, but anything else that gets investigated, you get to concrete things, right? … But in hindsight, or even looking at it now, I didn’t want to get to the bottom of it. I didn’t want to chase: 'Oh man, who leaked this? Is there a way for me to find out where this leak came from?' Like if I do find out, what I’m going to do? Am I going to sue someone? A lot of people said, 'Man, that that leak came from the organization.' All right. So if I found out the organization leaked it, am I going to sue the Golden State Warriors? Of course not. I love the Golden State Warriors, man. … It’s unfortunate and it sucks, but the reality is I did it — and you gotta face the music. I’m not about to get so deep into trying to find out who leaked it that it almost appears as [though] I’m not willing to face the music or something. It was unfortunate that it got out there. It’s one of my worst moments as a pro. Like I’ve never punched anyone, as heated as things have gotten, as much things as I’ve been into, I’m not someone who just walks around punching someone. … It's unfortunate that it got leaked, but the reality is I let myself go to that space and I did do it. … And because I did it, you can approach that one of two ways. You can bulllshit around and try to get to the bottom of who leaked it, or you can accept it got leaked and because you shouldn’t have done it, it would’ve never been in a space to get leaked if you hadn’t done it.”