Danny Green was the perfect role player for the modern NBA

Danny Green got a crash course in what it meant to be a role player from the moment he enrolled at North Carolina. Green had all the markings of a more traditional star coming out of New York’s St. Mary’s High School in 2005: he was a five-star recruit, a McDonald’s All-American, and the No. 15 overall player in the country, according to the RSCI. Players of that caliber typically don’t have to wait on the bench for long, but over Green’s first three years as a Tar Heel, he started only one game.

Green finally got shot as a senior, and immediately played a winning role for a national championship team. UNC was led by a dominant interior force in Tyler Hansbrough, and also had Ty Lawson running point and Wayne Ellington ripping shots from the wing. On a team loaded with talent, Green was tasked with doing the dirty work. He would guard the opposition’s best perimeter scorer, space the floor, and find a way to impact winning without holding the ball. It worked to great effect: Green drained 13 three-pointers at a 43.3 percent clip on the Tar Heels’ six-game run to the national title in 2009.

The NBA, still years away from fully embracing the three-point shot, saw a wing who couldn’t take defenders off the dribble with 1-on-1 scoring ability. He slipped to the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft, going No. 46 overall the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For the start of Green’s pro career, he was mostly known as a guy who did choreographed dances with LeBron James. As he officially announced his retirement from the NBA on Thursday morning, Green is so much more than that.

Green was a 15-year pro. He was an NBA champion with three different teams — one of only four players in league history who can say that. More than anything, he redefined what it meant to be a great role player in the pace-and-space NBA as the egoless complement to some of the game’s all-time greatest players. Green posted the following statement on his social media accounts on Thursday announcing his playing career was over.

Green’s NBA career almost ended before it really started. He only played 20 games for the Cavs as a rookie, and was cut in training camp the following year. He battled his way back into the league via the D-League, and his standout run with the Reno Bighorns convinced the San Antonio Spurs to take a chance on him. It wasn’t until his third season in the league that his career really started to take off.

Gregg Popovich turned Green into something like his new Bruce Bowen with the Spurs. San Antonio revolved around a classic front court superstar in Tim Duncan, and had two electric shot creators in the backcourt in Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. What the Spurs needed was the connective tissue to link and enhance their three stars. That’s where Green thrived.

After making only 31.7 percent of his threes in his first two NBA seasons combined (albeit in only 28 games), Green jumped up to a 43.6 percent shooter in 2011-2012. He became a starter for the Spurs, and was one of the most reliable outside shooters in the league, hitting more than 41 percent of his threes for four straight seasons. Green’s defense was every bit as important, teaming with Kawhi Leonard to form a lockdown duo on the perimeter that helped slow down some of the best offenses the league ever saw.

Green was spectacular in the instant classic 2013 NBA Finals, which the Spurs lost to the ‘Heatles’ era Miami Heat in seven games. For the series, he knocked down a new NBA Finals record 27 three-pointers on 49 attempts, a mark that has only been surpassed by Stephen Curry (twice) in the time since. The Spurs came back with a vengeance the next season, playing some of the greatest team-oriented basketball the NBA has ever seen. San Antonio won the championship by defeating the Heat in five games, with Green shooting 9-of-20 from three while also drawing the defensive assignment on Dwyane Wade for large portions of the series.

Green was traded to the Toronto Raptors with Leonard just before the 2018-2019 season to make the salaries in the deal work. If some thought Green wouldn’t be as effective outside of San Antonio’s dynastic infrastructure, they were quickly proven work. Green started all 80 games he played for the Raptors, and ripped 45.5 percent of his threes on the year. The Raptors made a Cinderella run to the 2019 NBA Finals, and somehow won the whole thing after Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson each went down with season-ending injuries for the mighty Golden State Warriors.

Leonard willed the Raptors to victory, but Green was a key contributor the entire run. His six threes in Toronto’s huge Game 3 win solidified his place as one of the great role players in NBA Finals history.

Green signed with the Los Angeles Lakers the next year, teaming up with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The season was interrupted by the Covid pandemic before resuming in the bubble. When the playoffs started, Green was again a key perimeter defender and floor spacer in helping the Lakers win the championship.

Great NBA teams are built around their superstars. The 2014 Spurs, 2019 Raptors, and 2020 Lakers didn’t have much in common stylistically, but Green’s 3-and-D skill set was a great fit anywhere. He was someone who always knew his role: he wasn’t there to dribble between his legs and try to make highlight reel drives to the rim. No, Green stood out on the perimeter and gave his star teammates more room to work inside, all while handling tough defensive assignments on the other end.

Green’s career is a testament to self-awareness and self-improvement. He came of age in the league in the middle of the three-point revolution, and tailored his skill set to fit the needs of the modern game. He consistently played bigger than his size on the defensive end, leveraging every bit of his 6’10 wingspan to keep star scorers in check. Every era has its preeminent role players, from Vinnie Johnson to Robert Horry to Derek Fisher to Steve Kerr. For this one, it was Danny Green.