Draymond Green saw a lot of people giving their two cents about him after he was suspended last month for hitting Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic in the face during a game.
But it was Stephen A. Smith’s comments about Steph Curry last month that “crushed” the Warriors star.
The ESPN star had used the situation to question Curry’s leadership on an episode of “First Take” that Green had gotten wind of.
ESPN “First Take” host Stephen A. Smith.Getty Images
“Where’s the leadership? Where’s he at? What kind of impact is he having?” Smith asked at the time.
Green addressed it during his podcast that was released on Monday.
“Because Draymond did X [Curry is a bad leader]. It pissed me off, but it crushed me,” Green admitted. “How is Steph enduring being a bad leader? Like this guy doesn’t give us anything to tear him down about. This guy does everything the right way and yet he’s being torn down because of my actions? Crushed me.”
Warriors star Stephen CurryAP
There were certainly plenty of leadership questions thrown around in the wake of Green’s incident last month — the latest in a long history of them.
Green had been suspended indefinitely by the NBA after he struck Nurkic with a spinning back fist in a game against the Suns.
It marked Green’s third physical altercation with a player and second suspension following a ban back in November after he put Rudy Gobert in a headlock during a game against the Timberwolves.
“Because he got crushed publicly for that, I’m gonna apologize publicly,” Green said on his podcast. “I sincerely apologize to Steph for my actions.”
Green is on the verge of returning to the court after the NBA reinstated him over the weekend after a 12-game suspension.
Green will return to a Warriors team that is 17-19 and 11th in the Western Conference in what has been a rocky start to the season.
During his latest podcast, Green also revealed he contemplated retiring following the incident, but was talked out of it by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
“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,’” Green said. “And Adam said, ‘You’re making a very rash decision and I won’t let you do that.’
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