Draymond Green Makes Honest Admission About Adam Silver Mandate During Major Suspension

Draymond Green has changed. Again. The Golden State Warriors forward got a brand new rehab piece on ESPN.com on Monday celebrating how much he's matured since he was suspended indefinitely for hitting Suns' center Jusuf Nurkic with a spinning backfist in December 2023.

Back then Green hit Nurkic about two weeks after he had returned from another suspension for choking Rudy Gobert. ESPN thought it was perfect timing for another rehab piece about how Green had learned how important it was for him to stay on the court. Via ESPN:

When I'm not on the floor, it hurts my team," Green said. "So for me, it's going to be more about, 'What do you have to do as a leader to save this team? You got to put your ego aside. You got to put your pride aside. You got to put, even, in a sense, you as a human being aside."

To his credit, Green has mostly stayed on the court this season. As ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk points out, he's only been ejected once this season and has barely been called for any flagrant fouls. And every time he hasn't been suspended, that's like passing a test. Via ESPN:

"So far this season, Green has handled a variety of tests. He traded taunts with Poole in November, faced Gobert three times in two weeks in December and has gotten physical with Edey each time they've met on the court. And he continues to bark at referees -- his lone ejection this season is the result of two technical fouls he got in 33 seconds near the end of that win over Memphis in November, and he received the latter while he was on the bench."

But this is a new Draymond. According one of Green's friends, he's a "nicer Draymond" and according to Green, things are "totally different" this season thanks to therapy and the accountability meetings that the NBA forced him to attend. In fact, they've been so helpful he refused to stop attending them even after the NBA said he didn't have to anymore.

Green wouldn't accept the check-ins coming to an end. He told everyone he wanted to continue the sessions. They've met six more times since last All-Star Weekend, the last coming in October before the season started.

"These meetings became so therapeutic for me," Green said. "It's helping me, and I f---ing love it. My plan is to do these meetings for the rest of my career because they're incredible."

Green seems to be having just as many minor incidents as ever this season, but that could just be annecdotal. Unless he does something that rises to the level that requires another suspension, there's no reason to believe he hasn't softened a bit. Otherwise, we may be in need of another image rehabilitation profile.