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With over a month before NBA games are supposed to start being played again, the Los Angeles Lakers have already lost one player in Avery Bradley. The starting guard has opted out mainly because of his young son. Danny Green is another key player for the team, but he made it clear that he’s not sitting out.
“I’m playing. I think everybody knows that I’m playing. It’s no secret out there,” Green said on Inside the Green Room. “But the rest of our roster, we’re not sure everybody is going to be there. But if had to guess, I would say at least 90, 95% of us on our roster are going to play and going to go. There is a 5-10% chance, we don’t know, that the other guys might not show up.
That’s good news that Green is planning to play. He’s one of the team’s key players and losing him along with Bradley would be massive.
Green Gives Insight on Dwight Howard
Bradley isn’t the only player on the Lakers who has contemplated sitting out. Dwight Howard has expressed that he’s not completely sold on playing basketball so soon. Green gave some insight into Howard’s thought process:
I talked to Dwight and there’s just some things that are bigger than basketball. You never know what’s going on with guys’ families. And just hearing the background of what Dwight is going through. I understood fully. Obviously, he wouldn’t do it for protests, but there is more than one issue, more than one scenario, more than one thing that’s going on in his life besides the protests.
A lot of the complaints surrounding the NBA return would be that it would hinder players’ ability to protest and focus on social activism. However, not as much has been made about personal issues players are going through.
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Green Explains Why Howard Might Sit Out
Howard has been far from silent since it was revealed he was among the players who might sit out, but he’s mainly focused on the activism side of things. Green revealed that it goes deeper than that:
With the loss of his baby mother, but there’s a lot of other things that’s going on behind the scenes that people don’t know about, and I understood. I said, ‘Obviously we need you man, we love you like a brother, you’re family. We want you to be a part of this. But regardless of what your decision is, we know it’s bigger than basketball and that there are things that are more important than actually doing this. So if you need to be with your family and stuff, we support it regardless.’
And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m all for it. I never said I wouldn’t play, but there’s just a lot going on.’ So he’s kind of making a decision. We have a few days left. I think he’ll be with us, and if not, once again, he’s still our brother, we still support him.
Reports have indicated that Howard could still intend to play but things could change. The Lakers would love to have him but it sounds like they will support him either way.
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