Kevin Durant addresses Draymond Green's reaction to comments about Jusuf Nurkic incident

LOS ANGELES – Kevin Durant saw it.

Draymond Green took to his podcast to address several topics, including the incident with Jusuf Nurkic that resulted in his recent suspension and his reaction to Kevin Durant’s comments as he was reinstated.

Green said he was first "pissed" with Durant saying he wasn't like that when they were teammates at Golden State and that he "hopes" Green got the help he needed, but later found positives out of it.

"You got to look at it from my perspective," Durant said after Monday's loss to the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. "Before I had made those comments, they were saying Draymond was going to therapy. What I'm supposed to think? They say somebody going to therapy. I'm hoping he get better from that and I hope he learn from whatever he feel like he need to learn from going to therapy. That's all I heard. I'm glad he's back. I'm glad he can move past that."

The NBA said in a news release Green "completed steps that demonstrated his commitment to conforming his conduct to standards expected of NBA players."

He also "engaged in meetings with a counselor and has met jointly on multiple occasions" with the league, the Warriors, and the National Basketball Players Association and will continue to do so, the league announced.

"Draymond is an incredible teammate," Durant continued. "He got his times where he lose his temper, but everybody has those times. I'm sure they're all happy to have him back, but I didn't mean no ill will about what I said. I know some people look at me as a malicious, snake, passive/aggressive. I know how people feel about me sometimes. So when I say something, I don't mean no harm by nobody. I don't mean to disrespect him or his family if he felt that way. I'm just glad he's back out on the court."

Green received an indefinite suspension on Dec. 13 after striking Nurkic in the face during Phoenix’s 119-116 win on Dec. 12 over Golden State at Footprint Center.

“That date will be engrained in my mind for a while,” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show” episode that posted Monday. “… As I said then and I’ll say now, I was wrong. I was wrong regardless of what I was trying to do. Regardless, none of that matters. I was wrong. I accept my fault in that and I apologize.”

The Warriors forward and four-time NBA champion was reinstated Jan. 6 after missing 12 games. Green said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talked him out of retirement during the suspension.

"I just told him, ‘Adam, it’s too much for me, it’s too much,’" the 33-year-old Green said on his show. "‘This is too much. It’s all becoming too much and I’m going to retire,’ and Adam said, ‘You’re making a very rash decision and I won’t let you do that.’"

Green’s "repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts" was taken into consideration when determining his punishment for the Nurkic incident.

"What's going on with him, I don't know," Nurkic said after that Dec. 12 game. "Personally, I feel like that brother needed help. I'm glad he didn't try to choke me."

Green served a five-game suspension this season for “escalating” an in-game incident between the Warriors and Timberwolves by choking T-Wolves center Rudy Gobert.

"I was wrong, went way too far," Green said about the Gobert incident. "I am a guy who plays on the edge. I am a guy who walks right up to that line and I have no problem with admitting that I’ve walked over that line and for that I apologize. I apologize to my family as they have had to endure some things that as a leader of a family, you have to lead when it’s good, you have to lead when it’s bad."

Green also responded to comments from Durant, his former teammate at Golden State who was asked about his incident with Nurkic and subsequent suspension.

"That was insane to see," Durant said. "Glad Nurk is alright. Never seen anything like that before on the basketball court in an NBA game. I hope Draymond gets the help that he needs. Been incident after incident. I know Draymond and he hasn't been that way when I was around him and coming into the league. Hopefully he gets the help he needs and get back on the court and put all this stuff behind him."

Green said he was “pissed off” over Durant saying "he wasn’t like that when I was around” and hoping Green “gets the help he needs.''

"I started going into this deep dive, how this, how that, but then it’s like, wait a minute, what do you want the world to know about you?" Green said. "And so I sat with myself and thought about that. And I’m like, interestingly enough, the world still thinks I’m the same Draymond as I was in 2017."

Durant and Green were teammates for three seasons (2016-19), winning back-to-back championships with Durant winning finals MVP each time.

"And the reality is, I’m not," Green continued. "I’m not even close to the same Draymond that I was in 2017, but I quite frankly haven’t allowed anyone in the world to see that growth, to see that change and I have had my reasons why."

Green continued by saying he lives in the public eye and makes a conscious effort to “cut that off,” but in doing so, hasn’t allowed himself to show vulnerability.

After reflection, Green said Durant’s comments have led to wanting to show who he really is as a person.

"If I can look at Kevin’s statement the right, through the right mindset, through the right lenses, he’s acknowledging essentially what I want the world to know about me," Green said.

Green then addressed the "need help" comments, saying he first questioned how Durant could suggest that.

"And when I went back through it with another lens, it’s like, maybe you shouldn’t hear help so negatively," Green said. "Like, maybe you’re listening to the word, help, with the same mindset that the word help meant when you were 15 years old. So maybe you shouldn’t hear that negative so negatively and maybe he’s not saying that as negatively as you’re taking it. And even if he was, I made a decision in that moment I wasn’t going to take it that way."

Green, who had a heated sideline incident with Durant when they were teammates in November 2018, said his reflection on Durant’s comments was “a very proud moment” for him because it indicates he’s ready to grow as an individual.

"I am one who celebrates small wins," Green continued. "I used to take wins for granted. I celebrate small wins."

Follow Suns Insider Duane Rankin on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.,

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Durant on Draymond Green reaction to comments on Nurkic incident