{"id":614474,"date":"2026-09-28T16:44:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T16:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614474\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T16:44:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T16:44:41","slug":"in-open-season-draymond-green-takes-you-on-his-mental-health-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614474\/","title":{"rendered":"In ‘Open Season’ Draymond Green takes you on his mental health journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

MENLO PARK, Calif. \u2014 LeBron James\u2019 rejection of the Golden State Warriors would likely be a major storyline if Draymond Green<\/a> releases a second season of his virtual reality therapy docuseries, \u201cOpen Season.\u201d<\/p>\n

It sounds like the Warriors star is still disappointed his sales pitch didn\u2019t convince James to make the \u201cright decision\u201d to join him, Stephen Curry and Golden State<\/a> over the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him all the great things,\u201d Green told Andscape. \u201cHow cool would it be for him to join Steph, who\u2019s pretty much carried the NBA for the better part of the last 15 years \u2014 Bron a little longer, but they are the guys. And how cool would it be to [challenge] these young guys who are kind of taking over? Their time is up now to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and all these [young] guys. How cool would it be for the two guys who\u2019ve battled on the biggest stage for so many years in the NBA \u2014 who now see these younger guys taking over \u2014 just for one time to say, \u2018Hey, fellas, we can still do this. Yeah, move over\u2019? How dope would that be?<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody speaks about the basketball side. Most people don\u2019t understand how important it is to have teammates that you rock with at this age. Teammates that are like-minded. Teammates that have similar lives. Teammates that when you go to dinner, you want to go to dinner and sit with. As you get older in this league, that becomes a weird thing. We\u2019ll have that. This will be the greatest show on Earth, by the way. Stephen and LeBron together?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much has [James] gotten into golf? There\u2019s no better place to be for golf than San Francisco. I also thought from a business standpoint, there\u2019s a whole business side of business that he hasn\u2019t tapped into [in Silicon Valley]. From a business standpoint, what can that mean? I know for sure this would be the best organization you\u2019ve ever played in. I know that for certain.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, ultimately, why didn\u2019t Green\u2019s sales pitch work on his good friend?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just couldn\u2019t get over the past, which is, \u2018I battled these guys over and over again. What is that now going to look like for me if I come there? What type of beating am I going to take if I come there?\u2019 And ultimately that\u2019s why it didn\u2019t happen. \u2026 I also think that\u2019s why it took so long to make the decision, because I know this, [Golden State] was the right decision. He just couldn\u2019t land on it,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n

Green exclusively spoke to Andscape at the Meta Headquarters last week about his new virtual reality docuseries, \u201cOpen Season on Draymond Green,\u201d featuring six unscripted filmed therapy sessions with the Warriors star available exclusively on the Meta Quest TV App starting Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The show follows the four-time NBA champion as he works with sports psychologist Dr. Carrie Hastings to confront real-life struggles over the 2025-26 season, aiming to break the cultural stigma around mental health while reflecting on his on-court ejections and technical fouls, midseason trade rumors, family joy and challenges and navigating his NBA career. <\/p>\n

Along with talking about his new show and therapy, the 2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year\u2019s conversation with Andscape discussed the return of head coach Steve Kerr, Curry\u2019s future with Golden State, Jimmy Butler\u2019s health, the Warriors now being underdogs, entering his 15th season and much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m nervous as hell. Super nervous,\u201d Green said about the docuseries. \u201cWell, No. 1, it\u2019s something that I have struggled with for a long time, the thought of therapy itself. From what I thought it was, then being misinformed on what it was. Two, all of the stereotypes that I\u2019ve learned from childhood. \u2018You don\u2019t need it. It\u2019s for the weak.\u2019 And once I started, it was like, \u2018Man, this is actually great.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many other kids have been told this isn\u2019t for them and you shouldn\u2019t do this? As I got more comfortable in my own journey, it\u2019s when I then came around to the thought of like, \u2018I\u2019m actually OK with someone seeing.\u2019 But I had to get comfortable in the journey first. Initially, I don\u2019t even want you to know I\u2019m doing it. I\u2019m going on my own time. I don\u2019t even really tell my wife what I\u2019m doing it. This is my thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be totally honest with you. You kind of go through these waves of like, \u2018I\u2019m happy as hell for people to see [this]. I\u2019m nervous as f\u2011\u2011\u2011 and I don\u2019t want anybody to see.\u2019 Once I committed to putting it on camera in doing what we\u2019ve done with \u2018Open Season,\u2019 I thought to myself, \u2018Why not help someone else?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my journey. Why not help the kid that\u2019s like me that\u2019s been told you shouldn\u2019t do that? I saw how beneficial it was for me. To fall on that mindset, it made it easier to come around, because I could look at it through a different lens. It ain\u2019t necessarily about me. Whatever you see in my journey, it\u2019s going to help someone else. So, if it\u2019s through me then it ultimately helps someone else, I got to be vulnerable. I got to put myself out there. That\u2019s how I came around to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DraymondDraymond Green on the docuseries revealing his in-season therapy sessions: \u201cThis is my journey. Why not help the kid that\u2019s like me that\u2019s been told you shouldn\u2019t do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

As an African American man, are you speaking to African American males in particular about using a psychiatrist? (Note: In 2024, African American adults were 36% less likely than U.S. adults overall to have received mental health treatment in the past year, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).<\/p>\n

One thousand percent, because that\u2019s who I can relate to. I know that kid growing up in Saginaw [Michigan] being told he has nowhere to turn to, right? Everyone\u2019s opinionated about whatever it is that that you\u2019re going through, and you don\u2019t really have the space to work through. There\u2019s no safe space, and so you just plow through it, right? You just keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so unnecessary. There are actually tools out there for you that deal with this, put you in a better space and better equip you to deal with things. In particular for me, but I know this helps everyone as well. The man I can relate to most is that man, because that kid became that man. And he became that man despite everybody saying, \u201cYou don\u2019t need this, you don\u2019t need that.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the trauma and everything that \u2026 little boy that turned into this man has dealt with is still there. It\u2019s never been dealt with. It resurfaces in more ways than that man knows. In a sense, yes, I know I can help that person. But then, as you go through this journey and you\u2019re talking to more and more people, you realize it\u2019s not just the African American kid. Everybody has their struggles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the white kid that grows up in the African American neighborhood. What does he deal with, right? It\u2019s the Black kid that grows up in the white neighborhood. What does he deal with? The Mexican [kid] who feels like he don\u2019t fit at all. What does he deal with? The Asian [kid] \u2026 What does he deal with? Along that journey you realize that. For me personally, I can speak directly to that kid because I know that kid.<\/p>\n

There was an in-game argument with Coach Kerr that you had last season during a timeout where you ultimately left the bench and went to the locker room. Was your response to leave rather than continue the argument a result from your therapy sessions? I feel like a season ago, or two or three years earlier, you wouldn\u2019t have handled it that way.<\/p>\n

(Note: Words were exchanged between Green and Kerr on the bench during a Dec. 22, 2025, game against the Orlando Magic. Green then walked back to the locker room and spent more than eight minutes there before returning to the bench in warm-ups for the rest of the game the Warriors came back to win. Kerr would later admit to reporters that the argument was \u201cnot my finest hour,\u201d stating he needed to remain calm in the huddle.)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I was able to get up and leave because, for the first time in a situation like that, I didn\u2019t feel the need to get back. I didn\u2019t feel the need for you to hear my side. I didn\u2019t feel the need to stand there and plow through whatever the situation was. It\u2019s like, nope, it\u2019s actually OK for me to just remove myself and whatever comes of that will come from it.<\/p>\n

What I do know is this situation is not going to get better for me. Me staying right here in this moment, it\u2019s not going to allow the moment to calm down, [so] let me just remove myself. I could have never done that before.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t necessarily say I learned that in particular, that I learned to get up and leave in therapy. But throughout my journey, what I\u2019ve learned is how to mellow myself when I need to be mellowed, how to better perform in these situations. It\u2019s a little different than going to play in the game. You\u2019re trying to figure out what is best for you in that situation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happy. I can see that clearly now, because that was 1,000% what was best in that situation. I just never would have cared before of what\u2019s best. I would have just did what I thought in the moment, which is, \u201cOh, you\u2019re going at me? All right, I\u2019m going back. Now what?\u201d I think I\u2019m just better suited in general to deal with those situations differently than I would have before.<\/p>\n

\"DraymondGreen (left) said the way he handled a December 2025 in-game argument with head coach Steve Kerr was an example of the way therapy has improved his understanding of how to control his emotions. <\/p>\n

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

What do you hope people learn in watching your journey?<\/p>\n

A lot of people see me in one light, and that\u2019s the light they\u2019ve seen me on a basketball court, which is great. That\u2019s what you know. That\u2019s fine. What people don\u2019t see on the basketball court is the father. What people don\u2019t see on the basketball court is the guy who will give the shirt off his back to anybody.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, you don\u2019t see that. \u2026 I don\u2019t really open myself up in that way, no problem. But if you do know the guy that\u2019s on the basketball court, the two don\u2019t mix. Who better to show you than me? What I hope to get out of this is very simple actually: for everyone [to see] that it\u2019s OK that we all have s\u2011\u2011\u2011. And what you see and what you thought, that\u2019s not the case. We struggle just like you struggle. We go through s\u2011\u2011\u2011 just like you go through s\u2011\u2011\u2011, and my s\u2011\u2011\u2011 is not bigger than your s\u2011\u2011\u2011 because it\u2019s my s\u2011\u2011\u2011. Oh, it\u2019s just mine. And yours, it\u2019s yours.<\/p>\n

But I want people to know that, and it\u2019s very simple, that it\u2019s OK. It\u2019s OK to talk to someone. It\u2019s OK if I always do this to get help. It\u2019s actually best that you go on your own journey, because this world is becoming more and more of an unsafe place by the day, and where do you find that solace? That\u2019s what I hope to get out of this, that people can find their space, their journey. Your journey won\u2019t be the same as mine, right? By the way, people are going to watch this and still be reluctant to start that journey. But if you start a year from now, no problem.<\/p>\n

I fought myself for years, and would talk in front of my teammates for years like, \u201cYo, I really need to go to therapy, and I know it. I\u2019m gonna do it one day. I ain\u2019t ready.\u201d You got to find it at your own speed, at your own pace. However, I just want you to know, here\u2019s my journey. And I\u2019m cool with putting it in front of you and, by the way, it\u2019s OK for me to walk up to you and be like, \u201cYo, I was in therapy yesterday.\u201d Let\u2019s destigmatize what this is. It\u2019s actually OK to go share with your friend, because that may be the push that your friend needs.<\/p>\n

What do you think about LeBron\u2019s decision to go to Philadelphia?<\/p>\n

If you look at, even going to Philly, they weren\u2019t on the radar a month before. But then that\u2019s where you go. Well, that says a lot to me. So, I think that\u2019s why it [Golden State] didn\u2019t work. [James] just couldn\u2019t ultimately get over, \u201cDamn, what\u2019s that gonna look like?\u201d I get it.<\/p>\n

What does Steve Kerr coming back to the bench for the Warriors mean to you? And how big a role did you play in him re-signing?<\/p>\n

Zero. That was for [Kerr and Warriors management] to work through. However, what it means to me, it\u2019s great. Going into Year 15 in the same place and adjusting to a new coach now, I feel like that\u2019d be a bit weird. Things are done a certain way. You go to bat with each other for so long. I think that would have been weird. So, for him to come back, I\u2019m excited about it. It\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

I think he got a renewed sense of how he\u2019s looking at things, which you need sometimes when you\u2019ve been doing something for so long. You can kind of stay in the status quo and keep just doing what you are doing. But ultimately, sometimes you need to get a little uncomfortable to move forward. I think he got a little uncomfortable. I think we all did, which is good. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a bad thing for anyone.<\/p>\n

How proud are you of reaching your 15th NBA season? You went from a guy on the bench in summer league to a four-time All-Star.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crazy, huh? Fifteen years. I\u2019m very proud of that, 15 years in one place. I look around at the guys that aren\u2019t doing it anymore. For myself to still be doing it in Year 15, man, I\u2019m very proud. I always was like, \u201cLook man, if I can get to 15, that would be crazy.\u201d And here we are staring down the barrel at it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty cool. I\u2019m very proud of myself, and also that I can still play at a very good level, a very high level. The one thing I\u2019ve always said, I don\u2019t want to be crawling through Year 15. I feel like I\u2019m about to go through Year 15 strong.<\/p>\n

What should we expect from the Warriors?<\/p>\n

Well, we\u2019re going to go out and compete. I don\u2019t know when the last time we\u2019ve just been counted out like this. Maybe 2014? We weren\u2019t counted out. We just weren\u2019t counted in. Now, for the first time in 12 years, everybody like, \u201cOh yeah, they\u2019re absolutely done.\u201d That\u2019s pretty cool for some guys who came from being underdogs. You make us start again. Thanks, appreciate it. Needed it. Looking forward to it. Love you.<\/p>\n

Any optimism on Jimmy Butler\u2019s return from knee injury from what you saw at the Warriors\u2019 recent voluntary players camp in San Diego?<\/p>\n

Listen, Jimmy works his ass off. Jimmy works as hard as anyone. And if there\u2019s any chance, he\u2019s the guy that can do it. I know he\u2019s working to get back this [season]. I know he\u2019s not looking at this like, \u201cOh, well, just go ahead and rehab all [season].\u201d He\u2019s working to get back. I do know that. You\u2019re just seeing him starting to get on the court in different ways just in general. It\u2019s good to see.<\/p>\n

Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for Andscape. He used to be able to dunk on you, but he hasn\u2019t been able to in years and his knees still hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MENLO PARK, Calif. \u2014 LeBron James\u2019 rejection of the Golden State Warriors would likely be a major storyline…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-614474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}