The NBA has reinstated Draymond Green after a month of counseling following his physical altercation with Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic on December 12th. Green recently released a new episode of his podcast after a seven-month hiatus, where he talked about the struggles he faced while working through his indefinite suspension internally. He revealed that he had conversations with his teammate Stephen Curry and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver during this time.
The 33-year-old, four-time champion, said he had to be persuaded by Adam Silver not to retire. Green mentioned feeling discouraged during this process. “I told him, ‘Adam, this is too much for me, like it’s too much. This is all becoming too much for me and I’m going to retire,” Green says he told Adam amid dealing with all of the noise and pressure of the suspension that he was ready to retire and leave the NBA behind.
Adam Silver encouraged Draymond not to make any hasty decisions he could regret down the road. ”
Green says Adam told him, ‘Ahhh, you’re making a very rash decision and I won’t let you do that.”
Draymond was not easily encouraged, so he continued with the conversation he had with Adam. “Not really sure it’s a rash decision, it’s just all too much. And you know, we had a long great conversation, very helpful to me. I’m very thankful to play in a league with a commissioner like Adam, who’s more about helping you then hurting you… he’s more about the players!”
The former General Manager of the Golden State Warriors, Bob Myers, was someone that Draymond said he talked to twice a day the first week after his incident. When he went into Adam’s office, Adam mentioned to Green how often Bob had called him about the situation at hand.
“Our relationship goes far past him being our General Manager. I said that when he was our general manager. Going through things like this shows what it means to be a true friend. I only hope to be as good of a friend as he is to me… this dude just cares so much!”
Green has left a Golden State team that has missed him immensely on both sides of the court. He’s one of the best defenders and has some of the highest basketball IQs in the league. Currently, Golden State sits at eleventh in the Western Conference. Moreover, Chris Paul has recently been ruled out for 4-6 weeks due to a hand injury. Under these circumstances, Green needs to return and help render this ship.
Green has been averaging 9.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and eight assists in 15 games played this season. It is worth noting that Green stands to lose $153,941 for every game he misses this season. However, it is expected that he will be returning to the court in the next week while continuing his counseling sessions.
Check out the video of Green below from his podcast mentioning the encouraging conversation with Silver around the 24-minute mark.
