Sharp-shooting guard Danny Green, who won an NCAA championship at the University of North Carolina and later helped three different franchises win NBA championships, announced his retirement as a player on Thursday.
Green won NBA titles with San Antonio in 2014, Toronto in 2019 and Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, and was a starter for all three clubs. He averaged 8.7 points in parts of 15 pro seasons.
“I am officially stepping away from basketball and the NBA,” Green said on his YouTube channel. “It’s been a great run. I’m very proud to be able to walk away from the game. I’m at peace with that. I wasn’t at the beginning either, but I think that’s one of them. 37 As I got older, my body started reacting a little differently.”
Green retired with 1,577 3-pointers, the 43rd most in NBA history. He is one of only 12 players to make that many 3-pointers and shoot at least 40 percent from beyond the arc.
He also ranks ninth in postseason 3-point shots with 315.
“My body was telling me that. I felt a little tightness in my calf here and there,” Green said. “But as you get older, you don’t get as many calls from teams. Unfortunately, my service wasn’t as popular as it was when I was younger. It’s been a hell of a ride.”
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You might call it an unexpected ride.
Green is one of only four players (the others being Kyle Korver, Rashard Lewis and Trevor Ariza) to make that many 3-pointers without being a first-round draft pick. Green was drafted 46th overall in the 2009 draft by Cleveland, but was waived after one season.
Green ultimately signed with San Antonio, where he was a starter for seven seasons and helped the Spurs win the title in 2014. He was traded to Toronto as part of the Kawhi Leonard deal and became a starter on a Raptors team that won a title in 2014. In 2019, he was a starter again on the Lakers team that won the title during the 2020 pandemic season.
“People ask me, ‘How did you learn how to be a winner? How do you become a leader?'” Green said. “And it’s the people before me, the people who taught me, my coaches. At the end of the day, I’m just a normal kid, so they set me up to be successful and have great height. I was pretty good at it, but I wasn’t very athletic. I just worked hard and there were good resources around me to learn how to be professional and how to do things the right way. did.”
In May 2022, during Philadelphia’s season-ending playoff loss to Miami, teammate Joel Embiid fell and tore his anterior cruciate ligament and missed 17 more games over the next two seasons. He only appeared in four playoff games.
Green said he would like to work in the media and indicated there are several opportunities he would consider.
“I’m excited for the next chapter, the next journey,” Green said.
