Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is nearing a return to NBA action following his latest suspension, but it nearly didn’t happen.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski revealed that in a yet-to-be-released episode of The Draymond Green Show podcast, the four-time NBA champion shared a fascinating conversation he had with league commissioner Adam Silver.
Wojnarowski reportedly received a clip of the podcast, in which Green says he told Silver that he planned to retire (via ESPN):
“I told him, ‘Adam this is too much for me. … This is too much. It’s all becoming too much for me — and I’m going to retire.’ And Adam said, ‘You’re making a very rash decision and I won’t let you do that.’
“We had a long, great conversation — very helpful to me. Very thankful to play in a league with a commissioner like Adam who’s more about helping you than hurting you; helping you than punishing you. He’s more about the players.”
Green has missed 14 games following an altercation with Phoenix Suns big man Jusuf Nurkic. It was his second suspension of the season related to an on-court incident.
Although his actions have hurt his team, an early retirement decision would have been shocking. Green is currently in the first year of a four-year contract extension and was majorly impactful when his team won the 2022 NBA title.
While it is unclear what this means for the future of Green’s professional basketball career, Silver was able to prevent the former Defensive Player of the Year from making a decision he could later regret.
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