NBA
Kevin Durant clears up remarks about Draymond Green’s suspension: ‘I don’t mean no harm’
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All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated10 Jan 2024
After being issued an indefinite suspension following a flagrant foul against Phoenix big man Jusuf Nurkic, Draymond Green has finally been reinstated by the NBA. The Warriors forward revealed on Monday that he was “pissed” off when he heard that his former teammate Kevin Durant had also criticized him.
The Suns star had said that he hoped the four-time champion “gets the help he needs,” but now the player insists he didn’t mean to offend Draymond as he genuinely wanted him to get better.
“I’m glad he’s back. I’m glad he can move past that. Draymond is an incredible teammate.” KD assured. “He got his times where he loses temper, but everybody has those times and I’m sure they all [are] happy to have him back. But I didn’t mean no ill will by what I said. I know some people look at me as this malicious snake, passive-aggressive.”
Kevin Durant addresses Draymond Green's reaction to comments about Jusuf Nurkic incident https://t.co/aIv4sSd1Q7
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) January 9, 2024
The Phoenix veteran is happy he’s ready to return. “I know how people feel about me sometimes, so when I say shit, I don’t mean no harm by nobody. I don’t mean to disrespect him or his family if he felt that way. I’m just glad he’s back on the court,” he said.
Durant believes it is common to have the public misunderstand his responses, so he wanted to take this opportunity to clarify his words.
“You got to look at it from my perspective, like before I had made those comments, [people were] saying Draymond’s going to therapy and shit,” said the 35-year-old. “Like what am I supposed to think? They say somebody going to therapy, I’m hoping he gets better from that, and hope he learned from whatever he feels like he needs to learn from going to therapy.”
Green later admitted that Durant’s remarks actually helped him have a breakthrough. “I was like maybe you shouldn’t hear ‘help’ so negatively,” he recognized. “Like 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 negatively, so negatively, and maybe he’s not saying that as negatively as you’re taking it. And even if he was, I made a decision in that moment that I wasn’t going to take it that way.”
Draymond is committed to represent Golden State without the antics that have plagued him
After he was punished for his 18th-career suspension, Green is finally vowing a commitment to play without the “antics” that have characterized him throughout his career. He revealed that he’s worked over the past month on ways to control his emotions and not let his aggression get the best of him.
However, he admitted that he won’t be perfect during this process, but he still plans to compete on the edge and can only promise that much.
“Antics isn’t something that got me here, and so when I look back on these situations it’s like, ‘Can you remove the antics?’ I’m very confident I can remove the antics,” Draymond said, “and I’m very confident that if I do remove the antics, no one’s worried about how I play the game of basketball. Nobody’s worried about how I carry myself in the game of basketball but it’s the antics. So that’s my focus.”
He later added that it’s about “developing a practice, developing a routine,” and he’s grateful for the NBA and the Warriors for supporting him to find help and a healthy compromise.
