Warriors' Draymond Green Reveals Details of Viral Altercation with Kevin Durant

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green provided new information this week regarding his highly publicized sideline argument with Kevin Durant last season. 

Appearing on Showtime's "All the Smoke" with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson (h/t Drew Shiller of NBC Sports Bay Area), Green gave his side of the story over what happened.

The disagreement occurred during a Nov. 12, 2018 game against the Los Angeles Clippers and resulted in Green being suspended for the next game.

Durant and Green got heated on the sidelines after Green hadn't passed KD the ball, and it was later reported that Green brought up Durant's impending free agency when the argument spilled into the locker room.

Green made it clear on "All the Smoke" that he felt his anger during the verbal altercation was warranted due to Durant's actions:

"Beginning of the year, I told [Warriors general manager] Bob [Myers] and [coach] Steve [Kerr]: 'I'm struggling with Kevin right now. I need some help. It's frustrating, and I need some help.' Nobody did s--t. So I'm kind of stuck in this position, but aight.

"So we're playing the Clippers, and you know how I am—I'm gonna roll with you, I'll take the bullet for you, I'll take the heat in the media for you, I'll take the suspension for you, I'll take the fine, I'll take the tech, whatever—for my guys. But in return, all I need from you is just to know that you're with me ...

"He comes to the bench, and he slaps the bench like, 'Yo! Pass me the f--king ball.' I'm like, 'Get the f--k outta here. F--king run then.' And he's like, 'You heard what the f--k I said' and slaps the chair: 'Pass me the f--king ball.' I'm like, 'Yo, you better calm the f--k down. I don't know who the f--k you think you're talking to.'"

Green noted that he met with Myers and Kerr shortly thereafter and was asked to apologize. Green refused and said he felt Myers and Kerr didn't do enough to address the issues he was having with KD previously.

Green's refusal to apologize led to him being suspended for one game, and he suggested that his attempts to settle things behind the scenes didn't really work as hoped:

"I told them ya'll gonna make a mistake suspending me because the only person that can fix this is me...they still did it...so I kind of patched it up. But it never was the same after that. But to me, it wasn't the same before that, and it hadn't been the same for at least a year. It had just gone from bad to worse."

Despite the issues, Golden State went all the way to the NBA Finals. Durant suffered a torn Achilles and Klay Thompson tore his ACL during the series, though, and the Warriors fell to the Toronto Raptors.

Durant left for the Brooklyn Nets in free agency during the offseason, and with Durant gone and both Thompson and Stephen Curry missing significant time due to injury, the Warriors had the worst record in the NBA at 15-50 when the 2019-20 season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While KD still stands as a big loss, the Warriors are well positioned to thrive next season and beyond. With a core of Green, Curry, Thompson and Andrew Wiggins, plus what figures to be one of the top picks in the 2020 NBA draft, the Warriors could be the toast of the NBA again soon.

If that happens, it would likely go a long way toward putting the negativity attached to Durant's last season with the Warriors in the past.