USA men's basketball official discusses Olympics decision on Draymond Green

Green is one of only four active NBA players with multiple Olympic gold medals, joining Chris Paul, Kevin Durant and LeBron James (all of whom were invited on Tuesday). Despite his efforts with the past two men's national teams, Green's exclusion from the 2024 squad isn't a surprise.

The four-time All-Star has long had a reputation for being one of the more controversial players in the NBA for his list of questionable, if not dirty antics on the court. The past 15 months have done little to alleviate any concerns that national team managing director Grant Hill may have had about having Green return to the international competition.

"We all understand and certainly have great respect and sensitivity to this particular period in his career and he’s working through some things both on and off the court," Hill said of Green, per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. "We at USA Basketball, we want to support him on his journey. We just didn’t feel that playing over the summer gives him the best opportunity to do what he needs to do."

Per Reynolds' report, there are 26 current players in the Association with a gold medal and the Michigan State product is one of 13 who didn't make the initial list of invitees.

Hill told Reynolds that Green's "contributions have been significant" to Team USA but "in lieu of what's transpired this year," the group came to their decision.

The former Defensive Player of the Year's recent string of troubles started in October 2022 when he and then-teammate Jordan Poole got into a fight, leading to Green hitting the guard in the face. The Dubs fined the veteran four-time champion following the incident.

Then during an April 2023 playoff game, Green stomped on the chest of Sacramento Kings All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis and as a result, was suspended for one contest.

The 2012 second-round draft pick made headlines again in November when he was suspended five games after grabbing Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert and putting him in a chokehold during an on-court tussle. Less than one month later, Green struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in a December contest, leading to an indefinite suspension.

He ended up missing 12 games before being reinstated and four more during his ramp-up to return to action. Green was in counseling sessions during his suspension and those are expected to continue.

The 12th-year pro revealed earlier this month that during his recent time away from the game he considered retiring, but after a "long, great conversation" with Adam Silver, the commissioner talked him out of it.