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Jalen Green wasn’t the only one going through their first NBA trade when the Rockets sent the 23-year-old guard to the Suns as part of a seven-team deal in exchange for forward Kevin Durant earlier this month.
His girlfriend, Draya Michele, and their 1-year-old daughter, Lyght Green, were by his side as the family spent their offseason in Los Angeles.
“Well this was my first time experiencing a trade,” Michele, 40, told The Post in a wide-ranging interview on behalf of the 2025 Jeep Grand Wagoneer campaign, WAGS in Wags. “I just think, you know, as his girlfriend, my main responsibility is to support him wherever we were going.
“I always make the jokes with him and tell him, ‘I don’t care what city you’re in, we could go to hell and play for the hell… and I’ll go with you, as long as I have a good SPF… it doesn’t matter where we are, if we have each other we’ll make the best of it.’ It’s really just putting families together with their dream cars and making things convenient and also luxurious.”
Michele — a model, actress and designer — has two sons, Kniko, born in 2002, and Jru, born in 2016, during her relationship with former NFL player Orlando Scandrick.
The Mint Swim USA founder, who recently became an investor in Sereniby, said she and Green weren’t disappointed when they found out they were heading to the Suns after being at the center of trade rumors for weeks.
They’re currently house hunting in Phoenix and enjoying the city, but “we haven’t yet decided on one,” said Michele.
“Luckily [Phoenix] is an amazing city,” she said. “We were not disappointed with Phoenix at all. But I just need to be supportive of him and of the change and then just try to make things as smooth of a transition [as possible] for him, and not stressing him out with the worries of moving and all that.
“He’s not gonna have to lift the finger. I’ll handle all of that so that he can just relax and play basketball. Once he gets there, he won’t have anything else to worry about. And that’s just really what I try to focus on: keeping things convenient and easy for him.”
Private life
Michele and Green, who were first linked in August 2023, have largely remained private about their relationship.
A month after welcoming their daughter last May, Michele told TMZ that they “block out” negativity online and that it’s “kinda weird” that some people care about their 17-year age gap.
They revealed their daughter’s face publicly for the first time in a Father’s Day fashion campaign with Burberry last month.
“I remember we were sitting like in a living room and Jalen goes, ‘I just posted [the campaign].’ And I was like, ‘What? We were supposed to talk about this first,’” Michele said.
“It was scary, it was exciting, but now a big weight off my shoulders because I don’t feel like I have to like hide her and be as secretive as much now. The cat’s out the bag… and I don’t have to worry about if other people are secretly recording her if we’re in a restaurant or you know something like that. I’m way more relaxed now as a parent.”
Michele rose to fame from reality TV, joining the first season of VH1’s “Basketball Wives LA” in 2011. She left the show at the end of fourth season in 2015 to pursue acting and her swimwear line.
The influencer has developed a thick skin with 9.3 million followers on Instagram, and more than 98,000 followers on TikTok.
“I mean, you try to get to that point [where you don’t give a f–k], but I mean you’re still human and you still have feelings,” Michele said of critics online. “Sometimes, you know you can read things that are hurtful and you want to just let it roll off, but it doesn’t always work like that. It also depends on what type of day you’re already having when you read the message… I take it because it comes with it, with the limelight, like I said. But I’m human and I have feelings.”
WAG Life
Many women across multiple sports leagues have attested to the hurdles of being a WAG, saying it requires a lot of sacrifice, living long distance sometimes, traveling and missed milestones, such as holidays and birthdays.
Another side of it entails receiving unsolicited opinions from others and scrutiny from the public — especially when their team is losing.
“It’s definitely a club,” Michele said of being a WAG. “It’s definitely like very cliquey. … I mean, of course, I’m happy to be part of any women who are into supporting their men because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about — making sure our spouses feel great and they’re taken care of.”
Michele said she’s looking forward to creating more memories in Phoenix, where she will likely be courtside to support Green, just as she did in Houston.
Green is one of the best young guards in the league. He will add an offensive footprint to a Suns team that’s looking for a new identity after losing Durant and Bradley Beal, who reportedly agreed to a contract buyout with the Suns on Wednesday to sign with the Clippers.
Green averaged 21.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest — while shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point range — in 82 games for the Rockets last season.
Green, the second overall pick by Houston in the 2021 NBA Draft, entered the league after playing the 2020-21 season with the NBA G League Ignite.
The Jeep Wagoneer WAGS in Wags campaign celebrates the intersection of iconic vehicles and renowned women featuring the premium SUV lineup alongside wives and girlfriends of superstar athletes.
