Draymond Green doesn't hold back when talking about basketball on his own podcast. Now he's taking his opinionated commentary to a new sport.
Draymond Green launches football show with Fox Sports NFL insider Jordan Schultz https://t.co/KHcMgg6Pob pic.twitter.com/40Oxewj2lv
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 10, 2024
The new show — called "Why Is Draymond Green Talking About Football?" — will feature Bleacher Report's Jordan Schultz as his co-host. Schultz, the son of former Starbucks CEO billionaire Howard Schultz, should provide the NFL expertise while Green provides, well, opinions.
Green doesn't pull his punches, both in his commentary and on the practice floor. He's always been a big football fan, so much that he suited up for Michigan State's spring football game in 2011, where his results were decidedly unimpressive — though Green claims he was "set up" by the coaches.
The show will air on Instagram Live. The new program is a sign that, despite Green's recent on-court struggles (which included two extended suspensions last season) there's still presumably a market for his commentary. He appeared on "Inside the NBA" throughout last year's playoffs and signed a multi-year extension with The Volume Sports for "The Draymond Green Show" in January.
The veteran forward may be looking toward the future as well. With TNT set to lose its NBA broadcast rights and Green under contract with the network, he may be trying to diversify his sports portfolio in anticipation of his employer no longer broadcasting his sport.
For Bay Area fans concerned that Green's broadcasting career could distract him from his NBA job, this isn't great news. But they should wait until they get Green's take on 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey's injuries before jumping to conclusions.
Besides, jumping on a microphone is actually one of the safest things Green can do. The NBA has never suspended a player for podcasting, after all.
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After the Celtics announced their new ownership structure on Tuesday, majority owner and team governor William Chisholm and alternate governor Wyc Grousbeck talked to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe about their plans for the future. Chisholm, who headed up the group that purchased the franchise from the Grousbeck family at a valuation of $6.1 billion, said he understands the immediate need to cut costs to escape the second apron and get control of the team’s salary structure. However, he promised that won’t affect his overall vision for the franchise. “We’re not playing for second; we’re playing for championships and banners,” Chisholm said. “We’re playing for them in the near term, although we obviously had to do some things to get below the second apron. But we’re also playing for them in the medium and long term. The second apron means you can’t do it by just throwing money at the problem. You have to do it with talent, you have to do it with leadership, and with Wyc and with (president of basketball operations Brad Stevens) and (president Rich Gotham) and (coach Joe Mazzulla), I feel like we have the best leaders in the league.” Chisholm also expressed optimism that the Celtics can exceed expectations this season with Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard leading the way. He added that there’s “real talent” on the roster “that hasn’t been fully realized.” Chisholm also emphasized that his plan to run the team in a close partnership with Grousbeck hasn’t changed. League rules prevented Grousbeck from retaining his position as governor because he owns less than 15% of the franchise, but both men insist that’s a technicality that won’t affect day-to-day operations. “When it became clear the governor title was not going to be available because of technical reasons, because of math, Bill said, ‘Well, then we’re just not going to use that word around the office.’ So that says a lot about Bill, that he doesn’t care,” Grousbeck said. “He just wants to do the right thing for the team, and I feel the exact same way. We’re shoulder to shoulder.” They also addressed the decision to give Mazzulla a multiyear extension ahead of what should be his most challenging season as head coach. Grousbeck said they want him “happy and empowered” as he leads a team that’s suddenly in the middle of the pack in the East. “I’m really excited to see what he does in this kind of environment,” Chisholm added. “I think people will really appreciate what he’s all about. When he doesn’t have the loaded team, what can he do? And I think that’s going to be really interesting, and I have every confidence he’s going to crush it.”
The No. 1 priority for NFL teams in the preseason is to get out of the games without major injury. The Pittsburgh Steelers may have failed with that one on Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers. Defensive lineman Derrick Harmon, the team's first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, had to be carted to the locker room with a knee injury while also looking visibly upset as he was taken back. The team announced almost immediately that he would be out for the remainder of the game with a knee injury. Head coach Mike Tomlin provided an update after the game: Defensive line was a top priority for the Steelers this offseason, especially after their playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens where they allowed nearly 300 rushing yards to end their season. Along with Harmon, they also selected Iowa's Yahya Black in this year's class to help try to beef up their line. Harmon is expected to play a major role in this year's defense and was already in a starting position. With star defensive lineman Cameron Heyward holding in as he tries to get a new contract from the team, that puts even more importance on Harmon's ability to make an impact. He has had a strong training camp, and after a quiet first preseason game, he really took a big leap forward in the team's second game, recording a sack against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If Heyward returns, and if Harmon's injury is not serious, the Steelers would have the potential to have a really strong defensive line with those two joining rising star Keeanu Benton. Right now, though, those are a lot of "ifs," especially as it relates to the availability for Heyward and Harmon for the team's season opener.
Joint practices in the NFL can be really heated. Just take for example the one involving the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday, with fights erupting on the field between players from both sides. Even though it’s just a practice session with nothing significant on the line, the competitive juices of players can get in the way and spark fiery moments on the field. If anything, at least no one appears to have been seriously hurt from the multiple altercations reported. However, Packers right tackle Zach Tom was reportedly tossed out of the field after throwing punches at a couple of Seahawks players. Despite all the chaos that transpired between the Packers and the Seahawks, Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald had great things to say about Green Bay. Seahawks head coach sends message to Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers Brady Henderson of ESPN noted that Macdonald started his session with the media after the practice, “by thanking Packers coach Matt LaFleur and the organization for hosting them.” In any case, Macdonald felt good overall about his players. “It’s hard to tell what happened, who said what,” Macdonald shared. “Look, you want your guys to defend their [teammates]. There’s a line. Whether we go past the line, I don’t think we did, which is good. Our guys stayed composed. But some of these things do tend to happen, and however it gets started … hopefully it’s not our guys, but people are going to react to a certain extent. I think our guys handled it pretty well.” The Packers and the Seahawks will still see each other on the field this offseason, as they are scheduled to play in their 2025 NFL preseason finale on Saturday at Lambeau Field.
The Blackhawks have officially announced a seven-year extension for pending RFA forward Frank Nazar. The deal will pay him an AAV and cap hit of $6.59M for a total value of $46.13M. It’s a gargantuan commitment to the 21-year-old Nazar considering his lack of NHL experience. The 2022 No. 13 overall pick lands the richest total-value contract in league history for someone with 56 or fewer career appearances, which is Nazar’s tally entering the 2025-26 campaign. Nazar, who still has one year left on his entry-level contract before his extension will kick in for 2026-27, has yet to spend an entire season on the NHL roster. Last year was his first full run in the pros after two years at the University of Michigan, but he made his NHL debut in the final three games of 2023-24 after signing his ELC. He did not make the Blackhawks’ opening night roster but, after recording 11 goals and 24 points in 21 games for AHL Rockford, was recalled in mid-December shortly after Chicago’s coaching change and never looked back. He faltered out of the gate, recording only one assist and a -5 rating through his first 10 appearances while averaging 14:44 of ice time per game. But under interim head coach Anders Sörenson, who had overseen his early-season success in Rockford, he was extended some patience. That paid off in the long run as Nazar built confidence, including a four-game point streak in January and a run of nine points in eight games in April to end the season. All told, Nazar finished the season with a 12-14–26 scoring line 53 games — ninth on the team — and averaged nearly 16 minutes per game. While size concerns (5-foot-10, 190 pounds) created some detractors about his ability to hold down his natural center position in the NHL, he saw a fair amount of time as Chicago’s second-line middleman behind Connor Bedard. His most common deployment (107 minutes) amid an astronomical 91 different line combinations used by the Hawks last year was at 2C between Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen, although he did also see some time up on Bedard’s wing. Nazar was seen as a top-10 threat in the 2022 class, but after slipping to Chicago and missing most of his freshman year at Michigan due to injury, there were warranted doubts about his development path. He silenced them quickly with a point-per-game sophomore showing for the Wolverines and has made about as good an adjustment to pro hockey as can be expected, given the lack of quality veteran support on the Hawks’ NHL roster. A long-term bet at what’s even now a conservative second-line price point in 2025 could pay incredible dividends for the Blackhawks if he remains a long-term top-six piece, even if it’s on the wing, as the cap increases and they reward the other pieces of their young core with long-term deals. There’s also an incredible risk factor for someone still relatively early on their development track with less than a full season’s worth of NHL experience. The only recent comparable for someone with his experience is Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who signed a five-year, $45M contract after his rookie season (55 GP). Kaprizov, however, had far more professional experience after coming up through Russia’s KHL and was two years older than Nazar is now, making him a more projectable player. Kaprizov also took home the Calder Trophy that year and had twice the offensive output Nazar did. As such, the Blackhawks are betting hard on Nazar being a long-term solution, either as a wingman for Bedard or as a second-line center behind him. There’s certainly reason for optimism – he’s developed well and is coming off a spectacular World Championship showing with the United States that earned him a spot at their Olympic orientation camp. He’ll be under contract through the 2032-33 season and can walk to unrestricted free agency upon expiry. Getting Nazar’s extension out of the way now isn’t just about him, though. Chicago has two other big-ticket RFAs next summer — Bedard and new No. 1 goalie Spencer Knight — who will take serious resources to extend. They still have barely over $40M in allocated cap hits for 2026-27, though, leaving them with virtually unlimited spending power under a projected $104M cap. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first reported the Blackhawks were signing Nazar to a seven-year extension. Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli reported a more accurate cap hit in the $6.6M range.
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