Draymond GreenForward, Golden State Warriors

Adam Silver convinced Draymond Green to not retire after Jusuf Nurkic incident & suspension

8 Jan 2024 · 5 min

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4:43

In a candid interview segment, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green opens up about a period of intense personal turmoil following the Jusuf Nurkic incident and his subsequent suspension, during which he seriously considered retiring from the NBA. He recounts a pivotal phone conversation with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who warned him against making a rash decision and urged him to stay. Green describes the extensive support he received from league figures and close confidants—including Bob Myers, Joe Dumars, Steve, and Mike Dunleavy—as well as current and former players, coaches, and owners. He emphasizes how these relationships reminded him that he is not alone, reinforcing his choice to continue playing. The segment also contains a brief DraftKings Sportsbook advertisement read by Colin Cowherd. Overall, Green expresses deep gratitude for the guidance and friendship he has received, underscoring the importance of mentorship and community in navigating career crossroads.

Chapters

I had a conversation with Adam Silver, commissioner of our league. And I just told him, "Adam, it's too much for me. Like, it's too much. Like, this is too much. It's all becoming too much for me.
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And Adam said, "Ah, you're making a very rash decision, and I won't let you do that." And I'm like, "No, Adam, like, not really sure it's a rash decision." It's just all too much. And, you know, we had a long, great conversation, very helpful to me, very thankful to play in a league with a commissioner like Adam, who's more about helping you than hurting you, or helping you than punishing you, or, you know, he's more about the players. And so I'm very lucky to have, or to be in a position to be under the guidance of an Adam Silver, of a Joe Dumars, —of someone who's been really close to me hand in hand throughout as I've been walking through this, Bob Myers. And for the first 5, 7 days of this thing, I talked to him 2 times a day. And I've always said, like, Bob is— our relationship go far past him being our general manager. And I said that when he was our general manager. And like going through things like this shows what it means to be a true friend. I only hope to be as good of a friend as he is to me. Man, when I first talked to Adam, Adam was like, "Bob's called me so many times. Like Bob's called me a million times. I keep talking to Bob." And it's just like, this dude is like, he just cares so much. Like, Bob's working ESPN and home with his family. What does he care? So thankful. Again, it's not oftentimes in life that you have people like that in your corner. Steve, Mike Dunleavy, the amount of people that's reached out to me during this, current players, past players, GMs, coaches, owners, was one of the things that really made me think, wow, you can't just run. Yeah. You can't just like say this is it and run into retirement. There's actually people that care. But you walk through this journey and you're not really sure how many people really do care. Sometimes you can feel alone. It's okay for it to be too much. But it really just brought me to a space of— Mm-hmm. No, you can't just run. Do what it is that you need to do and figure it out and do it the right way. And so I'm very thankful, and I won't mention everybody by name, but you all know who you are. I'm very thankful.
Family, friends, I'm grateful.
I am grateful for the time that I've had to grow.