Warriors' Draymond Green Talks Suspension for 2018 Kevin Durant Altercation

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green opened up about the fallout from his altercation with Kevin Durant last season, saying it caused him to briefly lose trust in general manager Bob Myers.

"I started to tell myself in my mind, 'Wow, [Myers is] flipping on me,'" Green told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on The Woj Pod in a joint interview alongside Myers.

"And it just felt like, 'Wow, OK, is this not the guy I've known for all these years? Is he turning on me?' And I started to tell myself all of these things, and then and everybody's like, 'Oh my God, the Warriors sided with Kevin Durant.' That was the hardest thing for me, because a lot of people don't understand me. Bob does."

The Warriors suspended Green for one game after he unleashed a verbal tirade in Durant's direction after a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Green called Durant out for the distraction of his impending free agency and called him a "bitch" on multiple occasions, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

According to Myers, the altercation was a result of bubbling tensions the team should have done a better job of addressing. Durant's free agency was one of the biggest storylines heading into the 2018-19 season, and there was an increasing sense of inevitability about his departure.

Green said it took him realizing his approach was wrong before he was willing to rectify the situation:

"Bob and [head coach Steve Kerr], they told me, like, 'You need to apologize to Kevin,' before I got suspended. And I said, 'No, I'm not apologizing because y'all telling me to apologize. I'm not gonna do that.' And I didn't. And I never apologized to him until I came to grips with myself. ... Not because of some games or the team ain't flowing right. But I can kind of see a look in my brother's face that I have not seen. He's hurt. How do I fix that? And that was what bothered me more than anything."

Green and Durant eventually found common ground, and the Warriors made their fifth straight NBA Finals (third with KD) before falling apart against the Toronto Raptors after injuries to Durant and Klay Thompson. Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason but only after playing through a calf strain and ultimately rupturing his Achilles in the Finals.

Durant apparently isn't holding any hard feelings, either, recently naming Draymond on his all-time starting five of teammates on the Knuckleheads podcast (h/t Noah Coslov of SiriusXM)—an honor that was not bestowed upon Stephen Curry or Thompson.