Draymond Green Talks How Kevin Durant Joining Warriors Changed How He Impacts Games

Draymond Green sacrificed his personal stats more than any other player when Kevin Durant came to the Warriors in 2016—and did so knowingly.

Green recently spoke to Shams Charania of The Athletic about his sacrifice of individual stats for being a team-focused player.

"I've never really been one to think about the stats, per se, but when KD came to this team I was like: 'Yo, I just need to have an impact, I need to impact this game in whatever way I can. Period,'" Green said. "Sometimes that may be 15 points. Sometimes that may be two points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds. Sometimes it may be two, four and six, right? It doesn't matter. But you can feel the impact on the game when I'm in a groove. Some of my best games I've ever had in my career was like two points, and yet you can feel the total impact on the game. So that's what I try to focus on."

Green averaged a career-high 14.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 2015-16, the year before Durant came to Golden State. The four-time All-Star never reached those scoring heights again and only averaged double-digit point totals in two more seasons. He has averaged single digits each of the last five seasons.

It's worth wondering why Green did not return to form as a scorer after Durant left, but it's more likely than anything that his 2015-16 season was an outlier. Green shot 38.8 percent from three during that campaign and has never been better than 33.7 percent in any other season. It's only been since Green has essentially abandoned the three that his efficiency numbers have become better as a shooter.

That said, it's abundantly clear Green does a million little things that never show up in the box score to help the Warriors' ecosystem thrive on both ends of the floor. He's an emotional leader—sometimes a too emotional leader—while also serving as a primary distributor on offense and a Swiss Army knife of switchability on defense.