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Heart-to-heart talk helped KD, Draymond mend relationship

Adam Pantozzi / National Basketball Association / Getty

The Kevin Durant-Draymond Green conflict that threatened the Golden State Warriors' dynasty earlier this season was mended with the help of a heart-to-heart talk and a glass of wine.

The two stars met in Dallas to mend fences ahead of Golden State's Nov. 17 matchup with the Dallas Mavericks, according to The Athletic's Marcus Thompson. Five days prior, the duo clashed over a late-game decision by Green and Durant's impending free agency following the Warriors' loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

KD challenged Green to be better at controlling his emotions during their meeting in Dallas, and the latter accepted, according to Thompson. Green also expressed his concerns about Durant's potential departure this offseason.

Although there have been various internal meetings and behind-the-scenes conversations to help manage the issues stemming from the players' dispute, as Thompson notes, the meeting in Dallas was the first step in repairing the stars' relationship and ending the conflict, which is now seen as being "firmly in the rearview."

The end of the dispute was important for the Warriors, who've won nine of their last 10 games, and for Green himself, as his former college coach, Tom Izzo, believes the spat took a mental toll on the 28-year-old.

"When I talked to him, I think his head was floatin' a little bit," Izzo told ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "I think he was not sure on how everybody was reacting. Some media went one way, some the other. Probably some players one way, some the other. The price of leadership is strange. ... Being a good leader is feeling what's needed to be said."

Green, for his part, insists that his relationship with Durant isn't just temporary to get them through the season. He says what they have is "very rare" and that they're better for going through that experience together.

"We had a good relationship, and then to go through something like we went through and still come out of that with a great relationship, that's special," Green told Thompson. "Those are the relationships you have for life. My deepest relationships that I have is, like, with people that I went through sh-- with. It could've been a bad argument. It could've been ready to go to blows. Those are my best relationships because you go through something and then you come out on the other side and y'all are tighter and better for it. Those are the special relationships."

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