He is who he is, has made a great living doing what he does and has carved out a prominent spot not only for one of the league’s premier teams but as one of the league’s valuable players playing on the edge.
Everyone knows that, including Green who returns Tuesday after serving a five-game suspension for his unnecessary act of aggression against Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert on Nov. 14.
‘The consensus amongst all of us is that I’m going to be me no matter what,’ Green told reporters Sunday. ‘That’s not going to change. But in saying that, there’s always a better way that something can be done. So it’s figuring out a better way. That’s the consensus among all of us.’
The suspension delivered by the NBA was punishment for Green’s actions but the penalty was not meant to serve as a deterrent for future actions.
The league wasn’t trying to send a message to Green, who is 33 years old and a 12-year veteran with four championship rings, four All-Star games, eight All-Defense honors, two All-NBA selections and the 2016-17 defensive player of the year award.
Unless the league is suspending a player for a considerable portion of the season – such as Ja Morant’s 25-game suspension – the league isn’t trying to send many messages. It’s delivering punishment for the transgression. The players are adults, they know what they did wrong and the hope is that it doesn’t happen again.
With Green, who knows if something similar – or anything that rises to a potential suspension – happens again. Given Green’s history, it’s hard to believe this is the last time he will serve a suspension. That’s just the way it is.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr acknowledges the edge with which Green plays is what makes him and the Warriors who they are. The Warriors and Green will deal with the consequences as they come.
The best outcome for the Warriors this season is that there are no more consequences because they need Green on the court.
Since a 5-1 start, the Warriors are 8-9 and have lost eight of 11 games – and the three victories in that stretch were against Detroit, Houston and San Antonio, and the Pistons and Spurs are a combined 5-28 with 25 consecutive losses between them. The Warriors were 2-3 without Green.
If the Warriors want to make another run at a title with Green, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Chris Paul – and they’ve committed to that with $208.2 million in player salary and another $190 million in luxury taxes for a payroll that is $400 million – they need Green at his best.
Golden State plays Sacramento on Tuesday, and it has a chance of reaching the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals with a victory.
But bigger than that, the Warriors can’t fall too much further behind in the Western Conference standings. The West is a beast with several teams looking better this season than last season and not many teams looking worse. Memphis should improve with Morant’s return and by getting healthier, and the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz shouldn’t be this bad all season.
Green makes a difference. He knows that, and Kerr already expressed a need for big minutes from Green when he returns.
Green knows crossing the line isn’t good. But when you walk the line as Green does, crossing it is just a misstep away. Just as something great happening is just a play or game away.
