Getty (R-L) Stephen Curry #30, Klay Thompson #11 and Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green issued a public apology to his longtime teammate Stephen Curry whose leadership was questioned over Green’s actions which led to an indefinite suspension.
“One thing throughout this process that really hurt me, I turned on the TV screen, and Stephen A. [Smith] was like ‘Steph is a bad leader because Draymond did X,'” Green said on his podcast “The Draymond Green Show.” “And it pissed me off but it crushed me. It crushed me because how is Steph enduring being a bad leader? Like this guy doesn’t give us anything to tear him down about. This guy does everything the right way and yet he’s being torn down because of my actions? It crushed me. That was a tough blow to deal with.”
Smith slammed Curry’s leadership on his ESPN show “First Take” in the aftermath of Green’s strike in Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic’s face on December 12 which earned him a suspension that lasted for 12 games.
On January 6, the NBA officially reinstated Green. The remorseful Warriors forward rejoined the team on the bench during Sunday’s embarrassing 133-118 loss to the Toronto Raptors. And one of the first thing he did in his first public comments since getting reinstated is to make amends with Curry.
“And because he got crushed publicly for that, I’m going to apologize publicly,” Green added. “I sincerely apologize to Steph for my actions. Because that was a tough pill to swallow. Very thankful for Steph as I’ve been out on this time. We talked every day, every other day just checking in. He’s like ‘Yo, I’m going to be right here with you through this. I’m going to help you through this.’ And he’s been very much so that.”
Growing Concern After Warriors Loss
Toronto stifles Golden State’s offense by zeroing in on Curry, who missed all of his nine 3-point attempts. The Raptors’ defense held Curry to only nine points, his second-lowest scoring performance this season, on 2-of-14 shooting.
Curry took accountability of his poor performance which set the tone for their fifth loss over their last seven games.
“The level of concern grows [with] more nights like tonight,” Curry told reporters after the loss. “Obviously, I got to play better and be more efficient. Find a way to get going early and give us some life.”
“My nature when things get hard is think to look at what I can do better. So I’m going to stay out there and respond the way I know how.”
Ex-Warriors GM Bob Myers Joins NFL’s Commanders
Former Warriors general manager Bob Myers is taking his golden touch to the NFL.
The Washington Commanders hired Myers in an advisory role to assist them in searches for a new head of football operations and coach to replace Ron Rivera, according to the team’s official statement.
Myers, who currently works as an ESPN NBA analyst after leaving the Warriors, will join former Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman in the advisory committee with Harris and limited partners Mitch Rales, Magic Johnson and David Blitzer.
A two-time NBA executive of the year, Myers pushed the Warriors by building relationships and identifying the right coach — Steve Kerr — that propelled their trio of stars enhanced by the arrival of Kevin Durant in 2016 to win four championships.