Kevin Durant meant no ‘ill will’ in comment after Draymond Green suspension

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was initially upset at Kevin Durant’s comments about him after he was suspended for slapping Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic last month.

But Green’s frustration subsided when he said on his podcast Monday that he saw the comments “through the right mindset, through the right lens” and decided not to take offense.

For his part, Durant said he didn’t mean any “ill will” toward Green, his former teammate on the Warriors.

“I’m glad he’s back. I’m glad he can move past that. Draymond is an incredible teammate,” Durant said after the Suns lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, pointing out his quote Green referenced in his podcast was made after reports surfaced that Green would be seeking therapy. “He got his times where he lose his temper but everybody has those times. I’m sure they’re all happy to have him back.”

Durant added: “I know some people look at me as this malicious snake, passive-aggressive. I know how people feel about me sometimes. When I say (expletive) I don’t mean no harm about nobody. I don’t mean to disrespect him or his family if he felt that way. I’m just glad he’s back on the court.”

Green returned last Saturday after serving a 12-game suspension by the NBA for hitting Nurkic. The incident came just over a month after he was suspended for putting Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert into a headlock.

Green said on his podcast that he realized it was unproductive to be angry with Durant and others who suggested he needed to get help.

“If I can look at Kevin’s statement the right way, through the right mindset, the right lens, he’s acknowledging essentially what I want the world to know about me,” Green said. “And then he spoke about help. And I’m like, ‘How the hell he’s going to say I need help?’ And when I went back through it with another lens, I said, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t hear (the word) help so negatively.’

“Like, maybe you’re listening to the word help with the same mindset that the word help meant when you were 15 years old … and maybe he’s not saying that as negatively as you’re taking it.’ And even if it was, I made a decision in that moment I wasn’t going to take it that way.”

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