On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsome announced the signing of the Fair Pay to Play Act, a bill that will allow college athletes in California to make money off their name, image, and likeness by 2023. Michigan State alumnus and Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green immediately praised the bill and proceeded to call the NCAA a dictatorship at the Warriors Media Day.
“Someone needs to force this dictatorship to change because that’s exactly what it is,” Green said. “It’s no different than any country that’s run by dictators. The NCAA is a dictatorship.”
Green has always been outspoken about this issue (and just in general), so it wasn’t surprising to see him speak up on this topic.
“As a former college athlete, that’s exciting. You spend so much time in college broke, with no money, and yet everybody else was living very well,” Green said. “The university is making a ton of money off your likeness. I’m tired of seeing people get ripped off, and I’m tired of seeing these college athletes being ripped off. No college athletes have a voice, really. When you see a commercial promoting a college game, it usually shows the coaches, and they don’t score a point. But unless it’s a Zion Williamson, and then it’ll highlight Zion — unless it’s someone like that, they show the coaches. But they can’t go out there and get you a bucket.”
Draymond will always be one of my favorite all-time players for his willingness to speak his mind and for his intelligence, and it’s great to see a Spartan leading like this at the next level.
