When talking about Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, his antics, recent altercations and suspensions are usually brought up alongside him. Despite him being a four-time NBA champion and an integral part of those teams, he’s usually seen in a bad light as others that can relate are Charles Barkley and Metta World Peace.
Those two are known also for their antics on and off the basketball court, but since they’ve been out of the league, they had time to reflect and see the error in their ways and hope Green can do the same. In an interview with Howard Beck of The Ringer, the Hall of Famer now turned basketball analyst on TNT in Barkley said himself and Green should say “I gotta stop the bulls***.”
“We’ve all crossed the line many times,” Barkley said. “And you have to say, ‘Man, you know what? I gotta stop the bulls***.’ Because when is it overboard? When it hurts the team. That’s what you gotta ask yourself.”
Peace hopes Green can find a balance
World Peace was into reflection as he started to ask himself questions as he was starting to “learn about myself.” He would later add that he hopes that Green finds a balance in his life of being passionate while also not being detrimental to himself.
“Basketball was essentially at the center of my life,” Peace said. “But as I was becoming complete, I started to learn about myself: Why am I so emotional? Because you got that emotion on the court, then you got that philanthropic side off the court. So you got two sides of a player, and I wanted to bring it together. How do you (control) that passion or that emotion that you’re bringing to the court? Why do you let it spill over? Why can’t you just play basketball, have a good time, and just be a good person, and just enjoy your life?”
“I had to take off of my intensity,” World Peace continued, “Because when I was talking to my therapist, intensity was not a safe space for me. Your body doesn’t understand the difference between emotion at a high level, whether it’s positive, or at a low level, if it’s negative. It’s just high emotion.” And when he retired in 2017, he says, “I was actually really relieved, because I have nothing to get emotional about.”
Green back with the Warriors
It has been a rollercoaster of a season for Green as he’s been involved in multiple altercations with suspensions that eventually led to an indefinite stint. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when he hit Phoenix Suns big-man Jusuf Nurkic where he would miss the next 12 games as part of the aforementioned indefinite suspension.
However, Green has said multiple times that he feels he’s better as part of coming back was going through therapy. However, the goal is not for the Warriors star to come back passive, but as Peace said, which is to find a balance that works for him.
Green is trying to help Golden State get back to the postseason as they are 32-28 which puts them 10th in the Western Conference. Every game is important for them now as their next contest will be against the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night.
More must-reads: