The therapeutic secret behind Draymond Green dismissing retirement thoughts

It’s no secret that Draymond Green had anger issues over the years, causing him to take cheap shots at opponents on the field. However, the The forward of the Golden State Warriors decided to make the change during his “indefinite suspension” last season.

Green went to therapy and agreed to regular “check-in” calls with the NBA, via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk.

“I want people to say, ‘Man, it was a little dark in here.’ But then look where it went from there. And that’s because he took responsibility,” said the four-time NBA champion. “Regardless of how I felt about the Rudy (Gobert) situation, the (Jusuf) Nurkic situation … the Jordan Poole (incident), any situation, I took it on the chin. I took responsibility for it and moved forward.”

All three of those incidents led to Green’s indefinite suspension for a “personal history of misconduct,” which ended up as a 16-game suspension. Four-time All-Star trip Gobert in the choke and hit both Nurkic and Pul in the face, all on different occasions.

“They (the incidents are) my fault,” Green admitted. “I had to do better, and I didn’t.” We all fail. But I am not a failure.”

Draymond Green is considering retirement after his suspension in 2024

Green told NBA commissioner Adam Silver during the suspension that he was considering leaving the game. However, the Silver and the league not only encouraged him to stay, but also rewrote the aforementioned call-ups to the former Defensive Player of the Year. These were Zoom sessions with a panel of seven people to make sure he was getting therapy and making progress on his mental health journey.

“The last thing you want to do is walk into this meeting saying, ‘I’m fed up with blah, blah, blah,'” the 34-year-old said. “You want to go into this meeting somehow unscathed. “Here’s what I was up to.”

“What I ended up finding in these meetings was that it was like an accountability panel, but it was also a therapy session because you start talking about some of the things that I went through with my therapist,” Green continued.

Part of Green’s growth has been dealing with a healthier loss. A fierce competitor, the Michigan State alum gets frustrated during tough times, but that’s no excuse for bad behavior.

“I hate to lose,” Green said. “If I’m losing, you’re going to raise everything you’ve got to change it.” With that comes high emotion. With that comes a commitment that, frankly, is not very welcome in this league. And so it’s a challenge. I just have to realize that (pushing the line) can’t be the way, that my teammates need me there.”

Golden State (19-19) needs the Michigan native to maintain his newfound maturity amid a disappointing season. However, the Warriors may have to win without Green on Monday night against the Toronto Raptors (8-31), as he questionable with illnessvia Anthony Slater of Athletic.