With four NBA championships on his resume, Warriors star Draymond Green has plenty of familiarity with the emotions of winning a title.
So after the Celtics clinched the NBA Finals on Monday night, Green shared his thoughts on what Boston’s stars likely will experience mentally in the coming weeks and months.
“The feeling that he’s going through right now and experiencing — that high, that cloud that he’s rolling through in life — in a few weeks, he’ll go through this space of almost a depression,” Green said of Boston star Jayson Tatum.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Tatum is on top of the world right now, which will last for “three to four weeks,” Green continued.
But once the feelings and perks of being a recent NBA champion wear off, things will become more difficult for the Celtics’ top players, with Green specifically referring to Tatum.
“What that depression is driven by is, ‘Man, that feeling felt so good. My biggest fear now is to never feel that feeling again,’” Green said. “And guess what, in that moment, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. … You have to wait, at minimum, an entire year; at maximum, it’s infinity.”
Golden State Warriors
The Celtics have as good a chance as anybody else to be right back on the NBA mountaintop next season, with the team retaining virtually all of its rotation pieces.
Still, nothing ever is guaranteed in the NBA, as injuries can occur and elite players often ask to be traded — even away from the league’s top teams.
As a result, Green’s comments come across as perhaps a piece of advice towards Tatum and recently crowned Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. Not many players have been as lucky as Green to achieve that championship feeling several times, so it’s important for these young Celtics stars to remain level-headed now that they’ve reached a new phase of their careers.
Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast