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With their championship hopes slowly fading away, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, as a leader, has to send a strong message to his suspended teammate Draymond Green.
“The conversations [on Wednesday] were about acknowledging he can’t do what he’s been doing,” Curry told reporters after the Warriors fell to the Los Angeles Clippers, 121-113, their third straight loss, and first since Green’s indefinite suspension for striking Phoenix Suns’ Jusuf Nurkic in the face. “He knows that. We know that everybody knows that.”
“What that means is to change. I think that’s the search for the answer, right? That’s the journey that we’re on now.”
Green’s third ejection of the season served as the final straw, eroding whatever trust the NBA and the Warriors have left for the mercurial forward.
What Does Draymond Green’s Indefinite Suspension Mean?
The 33-year-old Green must meet undisclosed terms and conditions before returning to play.
The league’s carefully crafted statement deliberately withheld any number of games before Green could return, insisting that all parties, including the Warriors and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), agreed to focus on helping four-time All-Star get to a better place emotionally and mentally.
“A lot of times, people get caught up in the number, like ‘What’s the number?’ We didn’t want to do that,” NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars said on ESPN’s First Take. “What we wanted to do was, we knew there would be some level of punishment, but we didn’t want that to be the focus. We wanted the focus to be on how can we help Draymond as well. We thought indefinite was the best way to do that so people don’t get caught up on, ‘The number, is it too low? Is it too high?’
“Indefinite means get yourself right. We want to see you at your best, and the best way for you to do that is to get yourself mentally and emotionally back to where you need to be.”
Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., meanwhile, disclosed that they want Green to be around the team at practice while he serves his suspension, even if not regularly.
“We think, for now, the healthiest thing for him is to be around. We’re not jettisoning the guy off somewhere else,” Dunleavy told reporters.
What’s at Stake?
Curry is confident that Green will return. But he wanted changes in Green’s behavior if he was to return in a critical season of the Warriors’ last legs of their dynasty.
“I think the tone is obviously changed from any other suspension,” Curry said. Coach [Steve Kerr] said it before the game. We’re here because we’re playing basketball. We have our goals. We’re wearing the Golden State jersey and we’ve been doing this for a long time and championships are at stake in terms of us being a contender or realistic contender, or even just being a good team.”
“And he’s a part of that,” Curry said of Green. “But you got to take a step back and like I said, make sure everybody is right, mentally and physically to be able to perform and take care of yourself.”
Draymond Green’s Mountain to Climb
Curry did the delicate balancing act of holding Green accountable while showing compassion to his downtrodden friend and teammate.
“I’m here as a friend and a support to kind of lean in on being there for whatever that means,” Curry said. “It was a conversation for us as a team to understand where we currently are, where we’re trying to go, and hold each other accountable and Draymond accountable to what’s been going on and what needs to change for us to be right as a team.”
For Curry, it’s finding that path that’s going to allow Green “to be who he needs to be as a person, as a man, father, husband, a basketball player in that order.”
“Everybody has their their mountains to climb. And Draymond’s are his and I’m confident he can get over the hump however long it needs to take to get there.”
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