He also reported the Pistons will sit Blake Griffin until a suitable trade partner is found for him or a buyout agreement is reached now.

The Cavs played the Warriors yesterday, so these issues caught the attention of one Mr Draymond green, who went off on what he sees as a double standard between how players air viewed for making trade requests versus how teams reviewed for benching players in order to trade them.

Here are Drummond's full comments, which were by the way nobody asked him a question about this.

It was a question about something else, and he brought it in this direction.

Take a listen.

I would like to talk about something that's really bothering me, and it's the treatment of players in this league.

Toe watch Andre Drummond before the game, Uh, sit on the sideline, then go to the back and then come out in street clothes because the team is going to trade him is bullshit.

Because when James Harden acts for trade and essentially dog did, I don't think there was no surprise or no, you know, there's no one's gonna fight back that James was dark in his last days in Houston, but he was castrated for one to go to a different team, and everybody destroyed that man.

And yet a team can come out and say, Oh, we want to trade a guy and then that guy is to go sit.

And if he doesn't stay professional, then he's a cancer and he's not good in someone's locker room and he's the issue.

And we've seen situations of Harrison Barnes getting pulled off the bench.

You know, DeMarcus cousins finding out that he's traded in an interview after the All Star Game, and we continue to let this happen.

But I got fine for stating my opinion on what I thought should happen with another player.

But teams can come out and continue to say, Oh, we're trading guys, we're not playing you and yet we're to stay professional at some point.

As players, we need to be treated with the same respect and how the same rights that the team could have, because as a player, you're the worst person in the world when you want a different situation.

But but a team can say they're trading you, and that man is to stay in shape.

He is to stay professional, and if not, his career is on the line.

At some point.

This league has to protect the players from embarrassment like that.

You know, we talk all of this stuff about you can't do this.

You can't say that publicly.

If you say that public your Anthony Davis got find, I think $100,000 or something like that for demanding the trade publicly.

But you can say Andre Drummond's getting traded publicly and we're looking to trade him publicly, and he's to stay professional and just deal with it.

But then when Kyrie Irving say, all my mental health is off, everybody going crazy about that, too.

Do you not think that affect someone mentally, as much as we put into this game, to be great, to come out here and being shaped to produce for fans every single night and most importantly, to help your team win?

Do you think that doesn't affect someone mentally?

But as players were told, so I know you can't say that you can't say this, but teams can.

It goes along the same lines of when, When everyone wants to say, Oh man, that young guy can't figure it out But no one wants to say the organization can't figure it out at some point.

The players must be respected in these situations, and it's ridiculous, and I'm sick of seeing it.

You'll have a great night.

I'll see you all tomorrow or Wednesday.

Wow, Paul.

A lot to unpack there.

But how do you feel about what Draymond said about the double standard?

I completely agree with him because, like he said, when a player comes out and says, Hey, I don't wanna be here, I want to get traded the situation, uh, you have a veteran Most cases is gonna be a veteran player who's probably still in this prime who is going in one direction with his career based on with the organization.

Eyes headed, you know, usually a younger team looking to rebuild as we see what Andre Drummond, as we see uh, with Blake Griffin and so to accommodate those needs, I think is best for both parties to have that understanding.

And like he said, when the organization wants to sit you and say, Hey, no, we're gonna wait for a trade partner.

But when a player says No, I wanna be traded It is a double standard.

And so what happens to the organization for coming public and then the player coming public and he's looked at as the bad guy and not want to be a team player.

First of all, Draymond is so good for the MBA.

We're so lucky to have Draymond and the MBA speaking about this stuff.

Second of all, I mostly agree.

I have written and said over and over again that trade requests and trade demands although they violate MBA rules, they don't really bother me because they're not anything but the players evening the balance of power between teams and players.

They're not some evil thing where oh, it's out of whack.

The players are out of control.

No, they're just evening the balance of power because teams can trade them at the drop of a hat.

Where I disagree a little bit with Draymond is two things.

Number one Ah, lot of players air justifiably annoyed when teams don't keep them in the loop on trade talks.

But the flip side is if trade talks leak.

The trade just blows up.

It can't happen.

It's this advantageous to the team, and the second part is with Andre and Blake.

I'm not sure these are the ones to really take up for, because I think they're in.

Their agents, at least in Blakes case, are kind of on board and are working with the team.

So yeah, the optics aren't great.

But to me, there is definitely a distinction between this and something that James Harden Anthony Davis scenario.

So trade request?

A.

It doesn't bother me.

It evens the balance of power.

Teams generally get good return even when there is a trade demand on the table.

That said, there is still an obligation to contract to play and play hard.

And I think you could do that while also demanding a trade.

So Draymond, I think, is mostly right.

Yeah, look, there's the technical issue of who demands a trade and what's being said.

But there's also those larger ideas of like loyalty right and some of the big picture ideas that players get tagged with and that, to me, is always unfair, Right?

Loyalty is supposed to exist for players when We're talking about how their relationship should be with the team.

But when the team trades than people say, it's a business, you should know that it's a business.

So that bigger idea is something that I think players get so frustrated about and that if he applied that to this particular situation, even if, as you note that particular situation, it might not quite apply here, especially with a guy like Blake.

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