Draymond Green is set to make his Warriors return soon, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver played a big part in that.
Before the Warriors forward was reinstated by the league Saturday after serving a 12-game suspension for striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face last month, Green revealed that he had a very vulnerable and honest conversation with the NBA commissioner about walking away from the game for good before Silver talked him out of it.
Silver spoke to the media Thursday before the Cleveland Cavaliers-Brooklyn Nets game in Paris, France and he was asked about the talk he had with Green. The commissioner didn't deny the claim that he convinced Green not to retire.
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"In terms of Draymond, at the time we were having those conversations, certainly from my standpoint, they're private," Silver said. "That's his right, if he chooses to make them public. There was certainly no agreement that we had that everything was private, but I'll leave it to him to comment on what we discussed.
"I would be speaking up if he were saying something that wasn't consistent with our discussions. I would just conclude by saying I'm pleased he's close to being back. And my sense is that he used his time away from the floor very productively."
The NBA indefinitely suspended Green on Dec. 13 one day after the Nurkić incident. The hope for all parties involved was for Green to take the time he needed to focus on himself and get his mind right before returning to the Warriors.
Green got the green light from the league Saturday, and returned to Warriors practice a few days later. But on the latest episode of "The Draymond Green Show," which premiered Monday, the four-time NBA champion confessed that he went through several dark days during his time away and even contemplated retiring from the game.
Golden State Warriors
"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,'" Green said. "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."
The Warriors, sitting at 17-20 on the 2023-24 NBA season after their most recent disappointing 2-5 homestand, surely would like their defensive star back on the court with them, but they want to ensure the timing is right as they look to turn the season around.
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