The motor driving the Golden State Warriors, starting power forward Draymond Green, didn’t pick up a basketball for seven weeks after the 2017-18 season ended in an effort to recharge his mind and body.
Green and the Warriors have played in four straight Finals, winning three of them. Playing deep into June four consecutive seasons can take a toll on a player both mentally and physically, and that's exactly what happened to Green, who was also dealing with personal issues last season as well.
Green's alma mater, Michigan State University, was in the news for the wrong reason and two of his closest mentors were part of some bad accusations. Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo and Green’s close friend and personal trainer, Travis Walton, drew criticism from the public. Walton had allegedly punched a female student at a bar in 2010 and was accused of sexual assault as well. Izzo was bashed by the media for how he handled the whole situation, and seeing his two friends getting denounced affected Green.
“I think what people fail to realize is that, at the end of the day, you are a human being,” Green told Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle. “As much as you want to keep your personal life separate from the way you perform and how you do your job every day, it’s life.
“When you walk out of that tunnel, you’re walking out of that tunnel with whatever was on your mind when you walked in. When you walk onto that floor, it’s still on your mind.”
To recharge his batteries, Green went out of the country after winning the Finals and didn't think about basketball at all. Now, with the season opening on Tuesday, Green is once again ready for the grind of an NBA season.
In 70 games last year, Draymond Green averaged 11.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game. The three-time All-Star shot 45.4 percent from the field, 30.1 percent from beyond the arc and 77.5 percent from the free-throw line.
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