This isn't Steve Kerr's first rodeo.
As Draymond Green's coach for 10 years, Kerr has been there for all of the Warriors forward's ups and downs over the last decade, including his extracurricular activities and on-court escapades. After hearing several apologies and excuses in the past, Kerr shared why this time – Green's most recent 12-game suspension for punching Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face last month – is different.
“I think Draymond knows his career is on the line. It really is,” Kerr said Tuesday on 95.7 The Game’s “Willard and Dibs.” “Based on what happened last year, based on the recent suspension, based on everything that happened – I think he realizes it's different this time. This wasn't a suspension because he had too many technical problems. That wasn't there. There was a suspension for a flagrant foul. That was different.
“That really got him noticed. He brought himself to attention. That makes the difference. And that’s why his reaction has to be what it has to be.”
The NBA suspended Green indefinitely on December 13, the day after the Nurkić incident. The decision not to associate a number with the suspension was based on the league's hope that Green would take the time necessary to focus on himself and collect his thoughts before returning to the field.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his absence on “The Draymond Green Show,” Green revealed that he and Kerr had a very emotional discussion when his coach visited him, saying the two cried together in his backyard. Kerr didn't want to reveal what the two talked about, but shared more details about their in-depth conversation.
“I went to his house [Los Angeles] the day he was suspended,” Kerr said. “We played the Clippers that night. I went and we had a very heartfelt, emotional conversation in his backyard for two hours. I won't really share what we discussed, but we have a very close relationship after doing this together for 10 years. We are very close.
“At that point the main thing was that he had to do everything right. He needs to get his mind and emotions under control and that is the most important thing. And we agreed that he had to deal with himself and that he had to deal with whatever came to mind on his own, at his own pace, whatever that meant. That’s why the ban was imposed together with the league for an indefinite period of time.”
While Kerr's “you do it to you and I'll do it to me” comments were initially misconstrued by the NBA world, the coach clarified that he meant no ill intent and that both sides had actually agreed to it.
“The agreement was that I would give you your space and you would do what you had to do and we would stay in touch,” Kerr said. “When you’re ready to come back, you come back. And that's how it was. And we didn't text every day, but we texted a few times during the lockdown. I was busy winning games, he was busy minding his own business.
“And when I said we would give him space and he would give us ours, there was nothing cryptic about it at all. It was actually just real.”
Green was reinstated by the NBA on Saturday and returned to Warriors practice on Tuesday before speaking to the media for the first time since his suspension. He will probably be back on the pitch with the team in the next week or two.
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