- Green also said that if Golden State had repeated as NBA champions, the odds of getting Durant would have decreased as well. The Warriors were up 3-1 in the NBA Finals on Cleveland before Green was suspended for Game 5 due to exceeding the league’s flagrant fouls limit.

“When you’re thinking ‘if Kevin Durant and OKC, they beat us in Game 7, or 6, or 5, how can he leave there,” Green said. “He can’t leave there. But we came back, and once we came back, it kinda keeps everything that’s his feelings real. I think it allows him to make whatever decision he wants to make, whereas I think if you go to the Finals it kinda puts a stranglehold on his decision. It kinda makes his decision not his decision.”

A large factor in Green’s suspension was him picking up a Flagrant “2” foul for kicking Steven Adams in the groin in the Western Conference finals. That put him one point away from an automatic one-game suspension entering the Finals against Cleveland. “I think everything happens for a reason,” Green told DraftKings.

“Two series have completely reshaped the NBA,” Green said. “We beat Cleveland … very very very slim chance we get Kevin Durant, coming off back-to-back championships. So if we win it all and the Cavs don’t come back from down 3-1 and win the championship … I’m not gonna necessarily say we were gonna go recruit Kevin Durant; I think you have the opportunity to go recruit Kevin Durant, who will end up going down as one of the greatest players of all time, I think you go recruit Kevin Durant.

“Now, do we get Kevin Durant? That’s a whole different question. If we have a 70 percent chance of getting Kevin Durant and not winning the Finals, I think all of a sudden we got an eight percent chance of getting Kevin Durant if we win the Finals. [...] I don’t think our alternative was too bad. We lost a championship, we get Kevin Durant … hey.”