Ice was wrapped around one knee but probably both. An icepack strapped to at least one shoulder was large enough to cover some ribcage. It was not unusual to see and hear the man in the icicle suit sitting in front of his cubicle joking and grinning.
That was Draymond Green in the postgame locker room for the vast majority of the 478 NBA games he played during the Warriors’ five-year run of excellence. He shrugged off the bumps and bruises, new ones popping up faster than old ones would heal.
For Draymond, pain is the cost of victory. He makes a conscious choice to be a wounded winner rather than an unscathed loser.
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The expense of being the NBA’s smallest power forward and embracing the challenge that comes with defending the league’s largest men is punishment that dents and scratches the armor. The only treatment is enough time and rest to achieve restoration.
Draymond believes the nine months since the Warriors last played -- the longest of basketball layoff his adult life -- has given him that.
“My body feels as good as it has felt in a long time,” Green said Monday. “I was able to get a lot of work in on my game, as opposed to a month and a half leading up to the season. So, all things considered, I appreciated the nine months.”
The Warriors realized last season that Draymond needed a break from the grind. There were games when he probably could have played. but his presence would have pointless in a season without stakes. Missing 22 of 65 games, he didn’t take the season off, but his load was substantially managed.
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He absolutely needed the time. Few players in the league, and no power forward/center, maintain the pace Green does. You’ve seen him guard three or four players in a 10-second span. You’ve seen his defense wreck offensive possessions. You’ve seen him grabbing defensive rebounds, blasting out of traffic and going all the way to the rim.
That effort and pace accelerate in the postseason, as Draymond’s minutes tick upward. Only Kawhi Leonard, then with the Toronto Raptors, played more postseason minutes than Green in 2019. Only LeBron James in 2018 and 2016, only Stephen Curry and James in 2015. Green caught a break in 2017, ranking fifth in total postseason minutes.
Green’s minutes are more arduous than the others. He’s asked to do more with less. Neither Curry nor Leonard is assigned to defend players four or five inches taller, 20 or 30 pounds heavier. Neither is LeBron, who has about three inches and 30 pounds on Draymond.
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The coaching staff understood that Green’s willingness to ignore physical mismatches and find ways to meet that nightly challenge was required for the Warriors to reach Finals and win championships.
More of the same will be required this season for the Warriors to reach the postseason, much less have a chance of thriving once they get there.
“I definitely have to play well, and I'm looking forward to playing well,” Green said. “Looking forward to playing a great brand of basketball, kind of getting back to myself and what's made me in this league.”
Ah, yes. The shade. Draymond has spent the last 18 months living in its shadow. His subpar 2019-20 ignited widespread whispering about the physical toll and his diminishing skills. He heard it all. How could he not?
Green has spent the last six months working with his personal trainer, Travis Walton, exploring levels of fitness that provide evidence of his being, at age 30, far from finished.
“You’re talking about a guy who just knows what the conversation is around him, who he is as a player and what the expectations are,” Curry said. “I'm sure he's keeping the receipts, too.”
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Draymond Green’s history is of always keeping receipts, of staring a hole through the pages of skeptics and summoning an implacable will to reduce skeptics to a warm, damp pile of regret.
It’s why he plays.
“I’m excited as hell,” he said. “I feel great. I'm excited and feel rejuvenated, motivated. I'm really excited to get out there and you know just compete again.”
Doubt Draymond at your own risk. If you’ve seen his many postgame bandages of war, only to watch him dominate the next game, you’d know how risky that is.