Draymond Green spoke to the media on Wednesday for the first time since he was reinstated by the NBA after his indefinite suspension.
The Golden State Warriors forward earlier spoke in a tell-all podcast regarding his unconditional apology, coach Steve Kerr's visit, and what he thought of former teammate Kevin Durant's "help" comment.
This time, he addressed his efforts to return for the Warriors moving forward.
Green on getting applause in his return to practice: 'You don't get the grace'
"It's funny. Coach (Steve) Kerr said, 'Welcome back' and everybody started clapping. I'm like, 'I'm not sure I deserve a round of applause.' Well, I'll take it, but it's that. Half-joking, but don't just get the grace and take my time and get back when I can. I came back from a suspension, not an injury."
Green on whether there's a sense of urgency helping the 17-19 Warriors: 'I've cost my team enough'
"It's urgent from a professional standpoint because I wasn't hurt. At least my body wasn't hurt. My mind was hurt. My feelings were hurt, but it wasn't like some injury cost me. It's very urgent because I've cost my team enough, I've cost this organization enough. It's not a time for me to come back and be like, 'Oh, alright. I'm gonna take my time to get back when I can. No, you caused this yourself. You don't get the grace."
"Though I'm appreciate of the organization, number one for the support. Number two, they're putting the plan together. If it was up to me, I would love to come back and play right now. Reality is, probably not the best for me or for the organization's standpoint. But there's a human component in this as well. You sit home and watch these games. As a competitor, you want to help."
There goes Draymond Green, back at practice. pic.twitter.com/XLSu80dgSl
— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) January 9, 2024
Green on getting back to practice: 'That was therapeutic in itself'
"In going back after 10 days, it was refreshing to go get a workout again. But it didn't feel like routine. It didn't feel like I was jumping back to the revolving door, if you will. Nope, I'm gonna go here today and I'm gonna get some shots up. I just really want to get my body moving again. It wasn't some routine with some goal of getting back to the court, this is what I wanna do today. That was therapeutic in itself."
"You never realize how stressful this job is until you no longer have that stress. And it was like, woah. I was on one of my calls with the league... and they start talking about a return day. My body immediately tensed up. Woah, that was interesting to me. It also further confirms that I had already been thinking, from the time I had off, how relaxed I was from everything."
"It was kind of a reminder. Okay, you're gonna start discussing a return now. That's great, but you can't fall right back into a tense place. I think that was such a great moment for me to have. To have that moment, the first time I heard the word 'return'. I thought that was also a step for me in the right direction. Wow, you're able to process that right away as supposed to living through it, figuring it out after the fact."
Green on improving his demeanor on the court: 'I'm very confident I can remove the antics'
"Antics. Antics isn't something that got me here. And so when I look back on these situations, it's like, 'Can you remove the antics?' I'm very confident I can remove the antics. And I'm very confident that if I do remove the antics, no one's worried about how I play the game of basketball. No one's worried about how I carry myself in the game of basketball, because of antics."
"So that's my focus. It's not on changing who I am completely. You don't change spots on a leopard. It's not gonna happen. Can I accept the fact my antics has been over the top? Of course. Am I capable of removing those? Of course."
"It's the antics that can go. I've made a commitment that those don't creep in."
