Before his suspension, before he embarked on a self-reflection journey, Kevin Durant said some things that Golden State Warriors center Draymond Green didn’t like.

The NBA has formally reinstated Draymond Green, a forward for the Golden State Warriors, after he was suspended for 12 games for striking Jusuf Nurkic during a game against the Phoenix Suns in December. 

Though we haven’t heard from the player directly, it seems like everyone in the world has had an opinion on Green and what transpired. Recently, an episode of “The Draymond Green Show” was posted on YouTube. 

The Golden State big man expressed a wide range of views in the over 52-minute show, one of which was in response to Kevin Durant’s response to what happened on the floor.

Yes, it was crazy to witness. Happy Nurk is doing well. Never witnessed that during an NBA game or on a basketball floor before. After it happened, Durant remarked, “I hope Draymond gets the help he needs.”

“Incident after incident has occurred. I know Draymond, and he hasn’t been like that since I first got to know him in the league. Thus, let’s hope he receives the support he requires, returns to the court, and moves past all of this.”

In return, Green made this offer:

“To be honest, I was really irritated when Kevin Durant stated, ‘He wasn’t like that when I was around.'” “I hope he gets the support he requires,” Green remarked.

“And then I was like, wait a minute, what do you want the world to know about you? I started going into this deep dive, how this, how that. I so took a seat by myself and considered that. It’s interesting to note that nobody believes I’ve changed from 2017 to now.

And the truth is that I’m not. I’ve changed a lot since 2017, but I’ll be honest: I’ve given everyone the benefit of the doubt by refusing to let them witness my own development and evolution. We have extremely public lives, and there are moments when you want to stop.”

Before Durant left, the two spent some time together in Golden State; many people think that was the result of their strained relationship. 

Following more introspection, Green went on to say:

“If I can interpret Kevin’s remarks correctly—that is, with the appropriate frame of mind and lenses—he is basically admitting what I would like the world to know about myself. How would he say, “I need help”? And I think maybe you shouldn’t hear help so harshly when I look at it through a different lens,” he remarked. 

“Perhaps you’re hearing the word ‘help’ with the same perspective that you had when you were fifteen years old. Therefore, perhaps you shouldn’t take that bad news so personally. Perhaps he is not taking that statement as seriously as you are. I decided right then and there that I wasn’t going to take it that way, even if he was. 

“For myself? For me, it was a really proud moment. You’re prepared for progress, I said. It’s a positive move in that direction.