Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant played with Draymond Green over three highly-successful and often drama-filled seasons. The two enjoyed back-to-back NBA championships with one another and a volatile moment that helped expedite Durant’s departure from the Warriors.
KD was on the bench as his Suns took on the Warriors Tuesday night when Green found himself in the news for all the wrong reasons once again.
The four-time champion was ejected after hitting Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face with a cheap shot. This came just six outings after Green returned from a five-game suspension for putting a chokehold on Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. It led to the NBA handing down an indefinite ban to Green, requiring counseling and other work in order to return to the court.
Following Phoenix’ 116-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, Durant was asked about Green and the incident in question. His answer was eye-opening.
“Yeah, that was insane to see. Glad Nurk is alright. Never seen that before on a basketball court in an NBA game,” Durant said of Green. “I hope Draymond gets the help he needs. It’s been incident after incident.
Durant went on to say that this is not the Draymond Green he played with as a member of the Warriors. The comments have been repeated by other players around the association, including Nurkic following the game in question.
“What’s going on with him, I don’t know. Personally, I feel like that brother needs help. I’m glad he didn’t try to choke me,” Nurkic on Green.
Durant is no stranger to drama involving Green. During their final season together with the Warriors back in 2018-19, the two got into a heated conversation on the bench in a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. It led to Green unloading a rant in Durant’s direction, culminating in a one-game suspension being levied in the former’s direction.
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Ultimately, this is one of the primary reasons Durant bolted from Northern California the following season. Both have talked about the incident in question a lot since it transpired.
Regardless of that situation, Durant and Green have seemingly mended things. They were teammates together in the 2020 Summer Olympics. At this point, it’s relatively clear that those close to Green are telling him to get some help after all of the incidents we’ve seen in just the past calendar year alone. He’ll need to do that in order to play basketball again.