Being the youngest amongst a group of friends, or in primary school, you must have been treated to quite a bit of hazing, right? If not, then you were certainly the lucky ones. As NBA enthusiasts found out, hazing isn’t something that stops even when one makes it to the NBA. After all, as a rookie, one is often subjected to teasing and pranks by the older players, along with grunt work that no one else would like to do. From Anthony Davis getting his car vandalized to Stephen Curry being sent to fetch coffee and donuts as part of his rookie duties, examples of rookies getting the short end of the ‘respect stick’ are filled. However, by simply offering a seat to a rookie, one veteran provided a contrasting gesture to the regular hazing. A gesture that even Draymond Green couldn’t try to be quiet about.

In the aftermath of the Warriors’ 121-116 win against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Bay Area power forward participated in a presser. During the same, he went a bit off-topic to discuss something he believes “no one will give a sh*t about” (Green added a “Sorry” for saying “sh*t”). Green recalled Trayce Jackson-Davis being on the bench. Since he was the team’s 4th center, Davis did not receive a chance to play in the recent matchup. Therefore, there was no reason for him to get up from his seat. However, when Warriors rookie Quinton Post asked, “Trayce, can I get that seat?”, since there were no other seats on the bench, Trayce simply got up and gave it. Having been in the NBA for 13 years, Draymond Green has seen all instances of how rookies are treated by the veterans. Therefore, this one simple gesture was enough to surprise him.

“A part of me was baffled that he got up for the rookie because the rookie, if there’s no seat, you sit on the floor. He just got up and gave him the seat. And I walked over to him. I said, ‘that’s one of the most selfless things I’ve ever seen a teammate do’ because 99% of the time, you’re gonna be like, you’re gonna go sit on the floor, rook, or go find a seat somewhere else,” said Green. “But he knew he wasn’t part of the rotation, and yet the rookie was. They’re playing the same position. And he got up and just went. He literally got up and went and stood in the tunnel because there were no seats”. Wow! That is certainly one heartwarming story.

Receiving a seat on the bench from an older player means more than meets the eye. You have to remember that even Bronny James, son of LeBron James, had to give up his seat when Anthony Davis asked for it during a game back in December 2024. It was a reminder that “Sure, your father might be the NBA All-Time Scorer, a four-time champion, and sitting right beside you. However, you are still a rookie”. No matter how exceptional a rookie is, their spot is on the floor when the bench is full. Since he was a rookie last year, Trayce Jackson-Davis would still have fresh memories of that rookie hazing. Therefore, he might have just wanted to give Quinten Post a break. After all, the regular season is over. A few games more, and Post will no longer have the rookie tag on him.

The gesture did more than highlight Davis’s good side. It also showed that the player does not hold any resentments. Earlier, it was Trayce Jackson-Davis who was the up-and-comer on the team. He even made 37 starts in the recent season for the Golden State Warriors. Unfortunately, by March, the player had fallen out of the rotation due to poor performance. The emergence of Quinten Post gave the Warriors a chance to experiment. As a result, Davis ended up being sent to the G-League for a while. Despite all that had happened, Davis was still willing to offer a seat to Post.

It is quite understandable why Draymond Green would be baffled. After all, having almost spent a decade and a half with the Warriors, the veteran has participated in countless rookie hazing activities. Then again, he learned from the best, as Green himself had to deal with some issues from players senior to him.

Draymond Green recalled being once left with an $18,000 bill: “I had no chance of paying that.”

Once you become an NBA player, financial security is guaranteed for you, right? Well, not if you’re a 2nd round pick. After all, you might end up with a lower-paying contract than your peers, which might also be a two-way contract. Draymond Green was selected as the 35th overall pick by the Golden State Warriors and was presented with a 3-year, $2.64 million contract. Despite this, the player wasn’t going to be paid anyways until he had started playing. Therefore, to make him pay a huge dinner bill before that was straight-out diabolical.

During the 2012-13 season, the Warriors were in a rebuilding phase, shaping their roster around Stephen Curry. That year, Draymond was just one among the other newcomers like Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, and Kent Bazemore. The four-time NBA champion described how a luxurious team dinner was planned, which quickly went off the rails. No fights happened, but as Green recalled, “They were ordering everything, man. Richard Jefferson ordered this big 18-pound porterhouse steak that was to serve six people for himself. Some of us were just looking, ‘These dude were ordering everything. They brought us to dinner, that’s dope’”. Oh, were they pranked so diabolically?

“So at the end of it, they like…, ‘Young fellas really appreciate y’all, and really appreciate y’all taking care of this dinner and all of them walked out.’ We get the bill, it’s $18,000. Kent Bazemore (was) undrafted. I ain’t got no dollar, I was a second-round pick,” Green recalled. Fortunately, there was some saving grace, since “Eric Housen lifted the team credit card… and took care… I was screwed. I had no chance of paying that.”

With a net worth of a whopping $90 million, Draymond Green can now order as many of those dinners as he wants. However, why should he, when he has the option of mooching it off some rookies? Not to give him any ideas, but maybe repeating the hazing is something Draymond Green can do with the next batch of rookies arriving at the Warriors.