Former Sixer Danny Green retires after 15 years, 3 championships

After 15 years, 832 games, 20899 minutes played, and three championships, former Spur, Raptor, Laker, and, of course, Sixer, Danny Green has decided to call it a career.

Green announced the decision on a Thursday edition of his podcast, Inside the Green Room:

“I’m officially moving on from the game of basketball and the NBA. It’s been a great run… I’m very proud to be able to walk away from the game, I’m at peace with it. [I] played with and against the best, some of the top greats, they get my respect. They’re shaking my hand, I’m shaking their hand. They said, hello. They know my name. Walk in rooms, people know who I am. That’s unbelievable coming from North Babylon, New York.”

Green played a storied career that anyone would be able to look back on with pride. He was an instrumental role player on three different championship teams, and, as he said in his continued retirement announcement, he has the opportunity to play with cross-generational talent.

“I got a chance to play with different eras, like early era, like some of the 90s guys were still around when I first got in. So, I’ve seen the game change. I’ve been a part of all of it, and I feel like I’ve played with a lot of Hall of Fame guys that are some of the greatest ever lace them up, and some guys that we’ll never see again. And a lot of those guys know who I am and respect me. I gotta chance to call them teammates, call them friends, family. So yeah, it’s been a hell of a run, man; it’s been a hell of a run.”

Green was initially drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft. After one year, he found himself in San Antonio, where he made a name for himself under legendary head coach Gregg Popovich, becoming a staple on the team for the next eight seasons, and winning a championship in 2014. Green would later join Spurs teammate Kawhi Leonard in Toronto and win the franchises’ first ever NBA championship under the guidance of now-Sixers head coach Nick Nurse.

The following season, Green joined the Lebron-led LA Lakers, winning his third and final NBA championship during the infamous “bubble year.”

After three championships, two consecutive, Green arrived in Philadelphia in hopes of helping the team spark their own championship aspirations. The Sixers ultimately fell short, and Green, having torn his ACL and LCL during the 2021 postseason, would eventually be traded along with the 23rd pick in the 2022 NBA Draft for De’Anthony Melton.

After rehabbing and attempting a short comeback with the Memphis Grizzlies, Green rejoined his initial team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, for another brief stint. Tried though he did, it was simply no longer meant to be for Green, who signed what would be his final NBA contract with the Philadelphia 76ers on Sept. 13, 2023, and would play just two games for the Sixers before being waived to make room for the players incoming from the James Harden trade.

Over the course of three seasons in Philadelphia, Green averaged 7.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.2 steaks while shooting 39.5% from deep on 5.3 attempts per game and ranks 10th in Sixers franchise history in three-point percentage, just behind Tyrese Maxey, and eighth in Sixers’ playoff history in three-pointers made.