Draymond Green: First time as NBA player and fan at Pistons-Cavs 'so special'

Saginaw native Draymond Green has played 14 seasons in the NBA, a strech that includes 949 regular-season games, and 169 more when you add the postseason.

But, since arriving in the NBA in 2012 as a second-round pick out of Michigan State, Green says he's never taken in an NBA game as a fan. That is, until Thursday, when he sat courtside at Little Caesars Arena for the Detroit Pistons' 107-97 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals series.

Draymond Green, a Saginaw native and former Michigan State star who plays for the Golden State Warriors, took in Game 2 between the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday. He says it was the first game he took in as a fan during his NBA career.

Green, who has been to NBA games as a TV analyst, says he found out quickly what all of the fuss was about.

"I've never sat courtside at an NBA game," Green said on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, "never understood the hype of why people are willing to pay so much money to sit courtside at these games. Having that experience, I must say to all of you people, I kind of understand it."

Green, who has helped the Golden State Warriors win four NBA titles during an NBA career in which he is a four-time All-Star, says he experienced some of the same emotions before Game 2 he experiences as a player.

" ... I ain't never been to the game and so I really don't know how I'm supposed to be feeling right now," he said. "Like a part of me is like, yeah of course, should be playing, but a part of me is like this kid in a candy store. Like, yo, I'm going to an NBA playoff game, and I'm sitting courtside, and I ain't never did it.