‘I’m the help he needs’ – Kevin Durant meant ‘no ill will’ saying he hoped Draymond Green gets the help he needs

Kevin Durant emphasized in his newest statements that he wasn’t targeting Draymond Green when he expressed hope that his former teammate would get “the help he needs” during a violence-related suspension.

Green was suspended indefinitely by the NBA after he attacked Suns center Jusuf Nurkic during a Dec. 13 game. Green was involved in another hostile incident earlier this season, when he choked Jazz guard Rudy Gobert.

Green was recently reinstated after missing the previous 12 games. Durant’s statements “really pissed me off” at first, he claimed, before he had a chance to think about them.

“They were saying Draymond’s going to therapy and s-t before I made those comments,” Durant said Monday night. “What am I supposed to think? They claim someone is going to therapy; I hope he benefits from it. “I hope he learned whatever he needed to learn from going to therapy.”

“I’m glad he’s back,” Durant said. I’m glad he’s gotten over it. Draymond is an excellent teammate. He has his moments when he loses his cool, but everyone does, and I’m sure they’re all relieved to have him back. But I didn’t mean any harm with what I said.”

Green and Durant won two NBA championships with the Warriors during their three-year tenure. Their friendship came under question after they famously traded words during a Clippers loss in 2018.

Last month, Durant, now a Suns teammate of Nurkic’s, termed the most recent Green incident “insane to see.”

“I hope Draymond gets the help he needs,” Durant expressed at the moment. “There have been incident after incident.” I know Draymond, and he’s never been that way when I’ve been around him.”

Green responded to such remarks on Monday’s episode of The Volume’s “The Draymond Green Show,” saying he isn’t the same person he was in 2017.

“I’m like, how’s he going to say I need help?” Green said. “When I went through it again with a different lens, I thought, maybe you shouldn’t hear ‘help’ so negatively.” … Maybe he’s not saying it as harshly as you think he is, and even if he is, I decided right then that I wasn’t going to take it that way.”