After the fourth time he won an NBA title, Draymond Green finally disclosed how much his back injury affected him in 2021-22 NBA season.
In the Wednesday episode of the “Checc’n On” podcast Green said to the host Eugene “Big U” Henley just how much his back was suffering.
“My L5 and S1 disks is herniated. It’s expanding and directly hitting my sciatica nerve,” Green explained.
The Warriors star also revealed that he uses a special cushion that helps support his lumbar spine and correct his posture after sustaining the injury that forced him to miss for a significant portion during the entire season.
“I was not sitting on the bench, or I wasn’t traveling with the team for two months due to the fact that I was unable to sit down. It was like I was lying down or standing,” Green explained. “Until the injury, I didn’t realize the way my posture was. For the first eight weeks, I did nothing other than fundamental strengthening in the gym.”
By focusing on specific muscle groups, 32-year-old is feeling like he has your body to “the most conditioned” it’s been in and hopes that his back injury will be an issue of the past.
“I believe that what I’ve done is that I’ve been training the small muscles in order to let my body perform in the way it’s supposed to work,” Green continued. “So I hope that it will keep me healthier for longer.”
Additionally, Green shared that his lower back injury also affected the lower extremities of his body, until the doctor couldn’t even do an easy leg raise.
“So during my entire rehab even though I let this get better, I was building strength in my calves. I was losing the strength of my calf. Therefore, I was unable to jump even. In the last six weeks, I was unable to be able to run … likely four and a half days ago, I was unable to do anything,” Green said to Henley.
For Green to declare that he’s in top form of his career should be reassuring to Warriors fans. As the NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson noted, Green wasn’t just playing as an All-Star, but also an award-winning defensive player prior the injury.
When he came back, Green was markedly worse all over the board, and it appeared that Green was fighting his body in order to make it to the final stretch of the playoffs.
Related: Why Bleacher Report ranks Draymond as the No. 1 NBA villain
In the final analysis, Green was able to battle through and assist the Warriors win their fourth title in the span of eight years, and put their Boston Celtics to sleep in 2022’s NBA Finals.
With a long offseason to recuperate and get his body back in good shape, expect Green and the remaining Warriors to continue their effort to be champions next season.
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