SAN FRANCISCO – Draymond Green has won four championships, been named to nine All-Defense teams and earned one Defensive Player of the Year award during his 14-year career with the Warriors.
With a resume like that for one of sports’ biggest global brands, it could be seen as a surprise that it took this long for an international music powerhouse to name-drop him in a song.
Ultra-popular Korean girl group Blackpink recently released a new album, “Deadline” and referenced the Warriors’ veteran in the song “Me and My.”
“Just me and my day ones, pretty girls walkin’. Golden like we Draymond, they pay us for a walk-in,” is the line sung by Blackpink’s Lisa.
Though not an ardent stan – although it would be understandable if Green’s bias was Lisa now – Green still appreciated being referenced by one of K-Pop’s most popular groups. He broke out a wide smile and began nodding his head when asked about the song after finishing his shooting drills at Chase Center.
“It’s pretty exciting, man,” Green told the Bay Area News Group after Monday’s shootaround. “You get name-dropped in a rap song, it’s pretty fun. When you get name-dropped in a K-Pop song, you may be a pretty big deal.”
In the world of K-Pop, there are few groups that can say they’re a bigger deal than Blackpink.
by mid-February, Blackpink became the first music group to surpass 100 million subscribers on YouTube. They boast 24 million monthly listeners on streaming platform Spotify.
Being mentioned in songs by chart-toppers is nothing new for Green, who said that getting a mention from his “GOAT” Jay-Z in an album would be his dream name-drop.
Hip-hop titan Drake said “you know Chubbs like Draymond” during “Summer Sixteen” back in 2016, a reference to Green protecting Steph Curry like Drake’s bodyguard Chubbs.
This is also far from the first time a group from the K-Pop industry has dabbled in the NBA world.
Aside from vintage NBA jerseys having been a mainstay in music videos since at least the early-2010s – anyone remember Girls Generation rocking Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce attire circa 2014? – the NBA has been proactive in tapping into the rabid fanbases that follow K-Pop groups.
Girl group Le Sserafim headlined a “Friends of the NBA” program in 2024, and purple-and-gold Chaewon jerseys can still be seen at Lakers games.
And in the Bay Area, a member of boy group GOT7 was instrumental in getting then-Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins voted into the 2022 NBA All-Star game, voicing his support for Wiggins on social media.
Green has watched “K-Pop Demon Hunters” with his kids, but is not quite as rabid as the fans who spend thousands of dollars on tickets to sold-out concerts. But both he and people in his personal circle were well-aware of how big Blackpink is in the music scene.
He was bombarded with messages after the album came out, but is waiting to listen to the song.
“I’m waiting to listen to it with my kids, and we’re supposed to listen to it on the way to the game,” Green said. “My daughters love K-Pop.”
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