Getty Image
When all is said and done and his NBA career is long over, Draymond Green is very likely headed for a spot in the basketball hall of fame.
But he may also have a future as a scout. Though, not in the sport you’d expect.
Instead, Green could be on the radar of a fair few NHL teams after revealing how he discovered Macklin Celebrini, the top prospect in 2024 NHL Draft, long before many had even heard of him.
Celebrini, as it turns out, is the son of Rick Celebrini, the vice president of player healthy and performance for the Golden State Warriors.
In a feature story for TSN, Green talked about how he went to watch Maclkin play and immediately knew was going to be a star.
@tsn Team Canada star Macklin Celebrini has a pretty special connection to Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors through his dad, Rick. @tsnduthie has the full feature, watch it on TSN’s YouTube page! 🇨🇦 #WorldJuniors
“So I’m laying on the (training) table, Rick’s working on me and I’m like ‘hey Rick, when we go to Chicago, any chance Mack got a game,'” Green recalls. “He starts checking the schedule, he’s like ‘oh, actually, he does.’
“So I’m like ‘great, I’m going.’ Mack didn’t have his best game. But I’m an athlete. Like, you know when somebody’s got it. You can look at how someone moves, their swagger, what they’re doing, how people react to them on the ice. Like, you know who got it, and he just had it. I got a chance to see a generational talent play before everybody else of the generation even realized he’s generational.”
Celebrini played for the Chicago Steel of the USHL at the time. He led the team with a jaw-dropping 86 points in just 50 games played, including 40 goals.
That led the league both in points and points per game (1.72). The next highest points per game average was 1.36.
So yeah, maybe Draymond was onto something here.
He just may have found his calling after the NBA.