SILVER LINING
Adam Silver responds to Draymond Green comments as NBA boss admits he’s ‘pleased’ Warriors star ‘is close to being back’
'He used to his time away from the court very productively.'
ADAM Silver admitted he's pleased to see Draymond Green return after the Golden State Warriors star claimed he almost quit the game.
Green this week claimed he was considering retiring from basketball after his suspension for hitting Jusuf Nurkic last month.
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The four-time NBA champion missed 12 games, but was ready to call and end to his career.
But, on a podcast this week, he said Silver talked him out of a "very rash decision."
Silver responded to Green's comments ahead of the NBA Paris game Thursday between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Nets.
In his press conference, Silver said: "At the time we were having those conversations, certainly from my standpoint they're private.
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"That's his right if he chooses to make them public, there was certainly no agreement that we had that that everything was private.
"I will leave it to him to comment on what we discussed.
"I would be speaking up if he were saying something that wasn't consistent with our discussions.
"I would just say I'm pleased he's close to being back and my sense is he used his time away from the floor very productively."
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Golden State Warriors star Green was reinstated earlier this week after his ban for striking Phoenix Suns player Nurkic.
Speaking on his podcast this week, Green said: "I told him, 'Adam this is too much for me.This is too much. It's all becoming too much for me – and I'm going to retire.'
"And Adam said, 'You're making a very rash decision and I won't let you do that.'
"We had a long, great conversation – very helpful to me.
"Very thankful to play in a league with a commissioner like Adam who's more about helping you than hurting you; helping you than punishing you.
"He's more about the players."
Green was forthright and apologetic about the incident which caused his lengthy suspension.
“I was wrong,” Green added.
"I accept my fault in that, and I apologize…It brings pain.
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"I have a wife, I have children, I have parents, I have grandparents, siblings, friends that I embarrassed, and it hurts.
"My mom experienced death threats. I have two children that are of school age, and they have to go to school.”