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Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant said Monday night he is glad to see Draymond Green reinstated and that he meant “no ill will” or harm when he said last month that he hopes the Golden State Warriors star “gets the help that he needs” following what has been “incident after incident.”
Speaking on a new episode of his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show,” released earlier Monday, Green said he was initially “really pissed” when he saw what Durant said shortly after Green struck Suns center Jusuf Nurkic during a game on Dec. 12, an incident that led to an indefinite suspension by the NBA.
However, Green said that once he was able to view Durant’s comments through a different lens and not take the word “help” so negatively, it helped him grow and take a step forward.
Durant, speaking to reporters after Phoenix’s 138-111 loss to the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena, explained he meant no disrespect with his initial comments and noted how glad he is to see his former Warriors teammate nearing a return to game action.
“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 s—,” Durant said. “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.
“I’m glad he’s back. I’m glad he can move past that. Draymond is an incredible teammate. 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. I know how people feel about me sometimes, so when I say s—, 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.”
On the night when the NBA handed down the suspension, Durant was asked about his thoughts on Green and the league ruling.
“Yeah, that was insane to see,” Durant told reporters on Dec. 13. “Glad Nurk is all right. Never seen that before on the basketball court, in an NBA game. I hope Draymond gets the help that he needs. It has been incident after incident. I know Draymond, and he hasn’t been that way when I was around him and coming into the league. So hopefully he gets the help he needs and can get back on the court and put all this stuff behind him.”
Green, who has not played since that incident in Phoenix, is back with the Warriors and nearing a return after a suspension that lasted 12 games. He explained how he initially took Durant’s comments and how he grew from a change in mindset.
“I’ll tell you it really pissed me off when Kevin Durant said, ‘[Green] wasn’t like that when I was around [him and] I hope he gets the help he needs,'” Green said on his podcast. “And then I start going into this deep dive. … I went back to Kevin Durant’s statement … as I sat with myself, I said, ‘I think it is time that the world gets to know me, who I am. And if I can look at Kevin’s statement the right way, through the right mindset, through the right lens, he is acknowledging essentially what I want the world to know about me.'”
Green explained that “the world still thinks I am the same Draymond as I was in 2017. And the reality is I am not even close to the same Draymond as I was in 2017.”
“And then he spoke about help,” Green continued. “And I’m like, how [is] he going to say I need help. And when I went back through it with another lens I was like, maybe you shouldn’t hear ‘help’ so negatively. Like maybe you are listening to the word help with the same mindset that the word help meant when you were 15 years old.
“Maybe he is 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. It was a very proud moment for me because I said, ‘You’re ready for growth.’ That is a step in the right direction.”
Green said he believed that was a “breakthrough” for him during his suspension.
“I’m just glad he’s back,” Durant said. “I’m glad he’s able to talk about his situation, move forward from it and get back to playing and finishing out his Hall of Fame career.”