Draymond Green says he doesn't regret choking Rudy Gobert / News - Basketnews.com

Green said he'd come to his teammate's defense anytime and would do it again if needed, especially to a teammate he's been playing with for 12 years. The player said he tried looking for a lesson in each punishment, this last one included.

Credit: Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix Credit Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green choked Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert after grabbing him in a headlock during an NBA game. He got suspended for it. Now, Green explained how he's dealt with the situation.

Draymond Green

Team:Golden State WarriorsPosition:PF, CAge:33Height:202 cmWeight:104 kgBirth place:Saginaw, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

The Warriors held a practice on Monday, after which Green was in the spotlight and answered multiple questions from the media. One of the first things he was asked was whether he regrets his actions. Draymond said he didn't

"I don't live my life with regrets. Like I said before, I'll come to my teammate's defense anytime that I'm in a position to come to a teammate's defense. That's what a team is - you stick together through the good and the bad. And I take that to heart. I take pride in being a good teammate. When I step in here every day, that's number one on my list - to be a good teammate, number one. That takes care of a lot of things. I take pride in that," Green said.

"Reflecting over the incident, I think for me, you go through the gauntlet of everybody having an opinion. You listen to those opinions or not? Some people I do, some people I don't. For me, going through this, what matters to me is how people that I care about feel, first and foremost. How are people that I care about affected? How are people that I care about - what do they have to do with this? I think that's it for me," he explained.

Green said that part of being him is just dealing with what the media and the fans think about him after each of the incidents. In the end, however, the player says the situation is never what it's being portrayed.

"When going through this, the way the media portrays you, you're supposed to crack or something, and that's not going to beat me. You've got people out there talking, bumping their gums, so you just kind of sit there and ride with it. I think the one thing I always come to in these moments is things are never as good as they seem, they are never as bad as they seem. You kind of go through these moments, and you feel like the world is collapsing at you and everything is coming to an end, what are you going to do? It's just never as bad as it seems," he said.

Rudy Gobert

MIN:31.82PTS:12.13 (58.65%)REB:11.25As:1.25ST:0.63BL:2.19TO:1.75GM:16ProfileNBA2023/2024

Despite having a wide variety of punishments handed out to him by the league, Draymond still believes there's a lesson in each one of them, and he just has to take it.

"For me, the reflecting is always about what those that I love think, what those that love me think, how they feel. And then, what's my perspective? How am I viewing this? How am I growing from this? I think everything you go through, there's a lesson in it. So am I getting a lesson in that? It's one of the biggest things for me," Green explained.

"Am I collecting the lesson that I need to collect from this? The reality is that the lesson people think you need to collect is hardly ever the lesson because they know nothing about you, they know very little about situations," he said. "For me, it's always just trying to find what's the lesson that needs to be collected in the situation, and that's how I reflect."

When looking at Green's actions, his past behavior, especially his past suspensions and fines, is being brought up as a reason to show that it is repetitive and should be punished more harshly.

The player doesn't believe in such a train of thought.

"Where I grew up, sitting and talking about what the other man got or he didn't get this, why I did not get this... I don't compare myself to other people. I'm myself. I never look at it in that light. To continue mentioning, 'Oh, what he did in the past'... I paid for those. I got suspended in Game 5 of the Finals. You can't keep suspending me for those actions," he said.

"In saying that, I'm also the one to admit when I'm at fault. It is what it is. For me, I think any time there's a situation when a teammate needs to come to their defense, I'm going to come to their defense. That's just that, especially with someone that I've been playing with for 12 years. That's more than a teammate, that's a brother," Green explained. "Things can be interpreted how people interpret, I'm not really there to judge people's interpretations or try to change them. They are what they are. I know for me, I'm always going to be there for my teammates."

Asked what he thinks about Gobert's comment that it was clown behavior, Green decided not to comment.

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