Draymond Green of the Warriors says NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talked him out of retiring

Veteran forward Draymond Green is back with the Golden State Warriors after serving a 12-game suspension. But as it turns out, Green almost didn’t return to the Warriors or the NBA.

Green admitted on The Draymond Green Show that he had considered retiring. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was the one who talked him out of it.

“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.’”

Green also added that talking with Silver helped him a lot and said that he is “thankful to play in a league with a commissioner like Adam who’s more about helping you than hurting you.”

The NBA suspended Green indefinitely after hitting Phoenix Suns’ center Jusuf Nurkic across the face in the third quarter of Golden State’s 119-116 loss to the Suns on December 12. At the time, the league stated that Green would be required to “meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play.”

Green was sidelined for almost a month due to suspension before being reinstated over the weekend. It is unclear when the 33-year-old player will be back on the court.