Draymond Green on Kevin Durant's Comments: 'It Really Pissed Me Off'
PHOENIX -- It feels like it just happened yesterday.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has officially been reinstated by the NBA, missing a total of 12 games following his actions in December where he struck Jusuf Nurkic during a game against the Phoenix Suns.
Seemingly everybody in the world has thrown their two cents about Green and what happened, though we've yet to hear from the player himself until a recent episode of "The Draymond Green Show" appeared on YouTube.
The near-52 minute episode covered a barrage of opinions by the Golden State big man, one of which came in response to Kevin Durant's reaction to what transpired on the court.
"Yeah, that was insane to see. Glad Nurk is alright. Never seen that before on a basketball court [or] NBA game. I hope Draymond gets to help he needs," Durant said after it happened.
"It's been incident after incident. I know Draymond, and that's not - he hasn't been that way when I was around him coming into the league. So hopefully he gets the help he needs and get back on the court and put all this stuff behind him."
Green offered this in response:
"I'll tell you, it really pissed me off when Kevin Durant said, 'He wasn't like that when I was around. I hope he gets the help he needs'" Green said.
“And I started going into this deep dive, how this, how that, but then it’s like, wait a minute, what do you want the world to know about you? So I sat with myself and thought about that. Interestingly enough, the world still thinks I’m the same Draymond as I was in 2017.
“And the reality is: I’m not. I’m not even close to the same Draymond that I was in 2017, but I quite frankly haven’t allowed anyone in the world to see that growth, to see that change and I have had my reasons why. We live a very public life and sometimes you want to cut that off."
The two spent time together in Golden State before Durant eventually departed - with many believing Durant's soured relationship with Green led to his ultimate withdrawal.
After some more self-reflection, Green continued:
“If I can look at Kevin’s statement the right, through the right mindset, through the right lenses - he’s acknowledging essentially what I want the world to know about me. ... How he's gonna say I need help? And when I went back through it with another lens, it’s like, maybe you shouldn’t hear help so negatively,” he said.
“Maybe you’re listening to the word, help, with the same mindset that the word help meant when you were 15-years-old. So maybe you shouldn’t hear that negative so negatively. And maybe he’s not saying that as negatively as you’re taking it. Even if he was, I made a decision in that moment I wasn’t going to take it that way.
"For me? It was a very proud moment for me. I said, 'You're ready for growth. That's a step in the right direction.'"
Full interview:
