Draymond Green: “We’re not going to crumble off an argument”

It’s been two and a half days since Draymond Green and Kevin Durant had an on-court spat that spilled over into the visiting locker room at the Staples Center. Since that time, the Golden State Warriors have suspended Green without pay for one game, played that game against the Atlanta Hawks, sat through a very tense Durant press conference, and traveled to Houston to begin a road trip.

And now, finally, we get to hear from Green. At Thursday’s shootaround prior to the team’s game against the Houston Rockets, Green spoke to the media for the first time since the notable event.

The three-time All-Star opened his media session with a lengthy, honest statement, but didn’t take any follow up questions on the matter.

“With what happened a few nights ago, Kevin and I spoke,” Green explained. “We’re moving forward. I don’t think there’s any secret that I am an emotional player. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and I play with that same emotion. Sometimes it gets the best of me and doesn’t work in my favor. I’m going to live with that.”

It wasn’t really an apology, and that’s fine, and to be expected. It was more a concession, and an explanation, which feels about right. This is Green - it’s who he is, it’s what makes him great, and it’s not going to change. Occasionally it’s going to go too far, but the apologies for that should be expressed to Durant and the team, not the media.

Green continued, and banged the drum of the Warriors being just fine, saying, “Nobody in this organization - from a player, not myself, not Kevin, not anybody else is going to beat us. So if you one of them other 29 teams in the league, you got to beat us. We not going to beat us . . . We’re not going to crumble off an argument.”

While Green didn’t really touch on the dynamic between he and Durant, he did bring up KD’s free agency, in a slightly interesting way. “Whatever Kevin decides to do, whatever Klay decides to do, whatever who decides to do, we had great years together,” Green said. “I support everybody wholeheartedly.”

If you’re a pessimist, you could read that sentiment as Green admitting that the end is coming. But that’s probably reading way too far into it. For now, it looks like things are trending upwards for the Warriors.