After getting hot in February the Golden State Warriors have again started to struggle in March, and it may be related to a worrisome injury to defensive ace Draymond Green.
Over the first few months of the season, the Warriors struggled to be a .500 team. However, after the return of Draymond Green and an adjusted roll for Klay Thompson, they caught fire and went 11-3 in February. Unfortunately, they have lost four of their last seven and seem to be spiraling downward again.
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While there are different reasons for the recent slump, one clear thing is Draymond Green has not been having quite the same impact on games as he did previously, and on Thursday the four-time All-Star revealed some concerning news about a back injury he is currently dealing with.
- Draymond Green stats (2023-24): 9.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 5.9 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 42% 3PT
Draymond Green dealing with a similar back injury as he had two seasons ago
- Draymond Green contract: 4 years, $100 million (Completely guaranteed)
“My back has been bothering me for like four or five games now. I’ve kind of been going threw it and just playing threw it. We have the absolute best training staff in the league and they’re doing things to get me back to a good space. I go in the game, and then all of a sudden in the third quarter it locks all the way back up and you’re kind of grinding through the rest of the game.
“Next day, not in a good space, can’t really even get on the court if I wanted to and then getting it to a good space to go back and play … It’s just no fun and it’s painful and it’s kind of in that same area where I had that issue before. My body keeps giving warning shots. Listen to them before you have to and you can’t do anything.”
– Draymond Green on his “Draymon Green Show” podcast
Two years ago, Green had a back injury that cost him a lot of time and he claims it led to him needing to relearn to walk during the recovery process. In the video, he adds that he is hoping missing their most recent game against the Mavericks and that having a longer period in between games finally gives him the sort of recovery time that makes a bigger difference in his back healing quicker.
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