The Golden State Warriors insist the fallout from their decision to suspend Draymond Green one game for his altercation with Kevin Durant was worse than the incident itself.

The Warriors have taken pride in handling issues internally while also being accessible to the public.

The incident between Green and Durant revealed that even the Warriors have issues and that became a story of its own, especially with Durant entering free agency this offseason.

The absence of Stephen Curry both in terms of on-court production and off-court stability seemed to magnify the issues.

Klay Thompson tried to be the voice of reason with Curry out.

"Kind of just reflect on what we've done and what a special run this has been," Thompson said of his message. "I mean, guys would trade in their accolades or statistics to come do what we do in a heartbeat. I know it. Guys have told me that before. Not just me but everyone tries to remind each other of that. This time does not last forever."

Durant tried to block out as much of the noise as possible as the NBA becomes more of a social-driven league.

"[The NBA has] grown so much that so many people want to cover it and be a part of it," he said. "I'm not saying all the content is great, but it's amazing that the game has grown so much to have so many eyes on it. With social media and the access to media it's kind of hard to dodge that type of stuff, especially when you have a little bit of controversy."

Stephen Curry will return to game action on Saturday night against the Detroit Pistons.

Curry has been out of the Golden State Warriors' lineup since suffering a groin injury on Nov. 8.

"Steph is not going to play [Thursday]," Kerr said after Wednesday's practice. "He wants to play. He's ready to play, and we're just going to be extra cautious. Rick (Celebrini) felt very strongly, based on his years of experience doing this stuff, that it made sense to be extra careful, and he's going to wait. He will play in Detroit."

Curry spent several minutes after Wednesday's practice discussing his situation with Kerr and Celebrini. 

Curry was hoping to play in Thursday's potential Finals preview against the Toronto Raptors.

"He's dying to play," Kerr said. "He loves playing in Toronto. He's got great memories of being here when [his father] Dell was playing with the Raptors. He's dying to play, but we rely heavily on Rick. Rick is really good at his job. He knows what he's talking about. And he thinks it makes a lot of sense to wait to give him two more days to be extra cautious, and that's what we're going to do."

"We obviously have a lot of smart people that are taking care of us and trying to make sure we're protected from ourselves in certain situations," he said. "Obviously, it's been three weeks or so, so I'm itching to get back. I'm obviously excited that the end is near. I love coming to Toronto, so it's a little disappointing."

The Golden State Warriors are hopeful of Stephen Curry returning on their upcoming five-game road trip.

The Warriors said Curry is making "very good progress" after a follow-up exam and will start ramping up his on-court work over the next few days.

"He's doing much better," Steve Kerr said Saturday. "We're just going to keep taking it day by day. And Rick [Celebrini, Warriors director of sports medicine and performance] feels very strongly that he'll play on the road trip."

Kerr also said Curry is "anxious" to return.

ESPN's telecast of LeBron James' return to Cleveland generated a 2.6 metered market rating, which was up 18 percent from last year's comparable game between the Warriors and Thunder.

The telecast was the highest rated regular season game on ESPN since the Warriors won their 73rd game in April of 2016.

ESPN’s Thunder at Warriors telecast last night delivered a 2.0 metered market rating, up 25 percent from a 1.6 rating for last year’s comparable Lakers vs. Kings telecast.

Kevin Durant said last week's exchange with Draymond Green won't have any bearing on his future in free agency.

“Nah, [it won’t factor],” Durant told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “Because at the end of the day, I’m just a ballplayer that’s just trying to be in a great environment to play basketball and groom my skills every day. And I want to compete on a level that once the game starts, I’m just totally comfortable with my surroundings, with just going out there and being me.”

Durant is expected to decline his player option in 19-20 to become a free agent.

“I never really felt like it was a problem, because I know Dray and he says some crazy [expletive] out his mouth all the time,” Durant told Yahoo Sports. “But on top of that, it was just that there was so much coming with it from the outside, and so much stuff that we have to answer now.”

Durant said it didn’t take him long to put everything in perspective following the incident.

“I was upset, but I know that I can’t hold on to something like this,” Durant told Yahoo Sports. “I know that I’ve got to make a choice with myself, like how long are you going to be upset about this to the point where you’re going to let it affect what you do on the floor or how you approach the game? Once it gets there now, I got to make a grown-man decision and tell myself, ‘Look, man, no matter what, you still got to come to work every single day. It’s going to work out. It’s going to figure itself out.’ And I think everyone’s been handling it the best way they could and we’re just trying to move forward with it.”

Durant seems most upset by how the situation has become a big story and a distraction.

“My whole thing is I didn’t create any of this,” Durant said. “That’s just my whole thing. I was just playing basketball. Now, I got to answer questions, now I got to talk about this, now I got to feel a way when I was in a great zone playing basketball. … Now, it’s always going to come back. Like, ‘Are they all right? Man, he didn’t play well. Is he going to leave?’ Why do I even have to think about that at this point? … Then it turned into, ‘K.D.’s going to this place, he doesn’t like the Warriors no more. He should go here, he should go there.’ More distractions.”

Kevin Durant has been fined $25,000 for directing inappropriate language toward a fan.

The incident occurred with 1:01 remaining in Saturday's game at Dallas.

With the Golden State Warriors having lost three straight games and four out of their past five, Steve Kerr admitted the team is going through their most difficult stretch since he joined the franchise in 2014.

"Oh, yeah," Kerr said. "But I've had a dream run for four and a half years. We've had such a charmed existence the last four seasons. This is the toughest stretch we've been in.

"This is the real NBA. We haven't been in the real NBA the last few years. We've been in this dream. And so now we're faced real adversity and we got to get out of it ourselves."

The Warriors are facing interpersonal issues between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green while also playing without Stephen Curry and Green.

Kerr remains outwardly confident.

"Everyone has to come together and you can't feel sorry for yourselves," Kerr said. "You have to commit to fighting and executing, competing for 48 minutes. I thought we did that for maybe 24 minutes tonight. We had a couple good stretches. I was very proud of the group in the second half, got us back in the game and they fought.

"It's not enough to do that for a stretch and then go through a bad spell. You got to be competing the whole time and playing with some poise and playing with a purpose. I didn't think we did that tonight."

"It was a terrible road trip as far as wins and losses," Klay Thompson said. "But we're obviously short-handed. I'm proud of the way the guys fought. Besides the Houston game, I feel like either game could have gone either way; unfortunately, it didn't. It's been a challenging week on all fronts. The best thing for us is just to get away a little bit [Monday], regroup, take it back home and just have fun, play with that joy."

Joe Lacob dismissed the notion that the Golden State Warriors could be choosing Kevin Durant over Draymond Green.

“I’ve read and heard all the things people are talking about. That we’re choosing one person over another. We’re not choosing anybody over anybody.”

The Warriors suspended Green following his verbal confrontation with Durant.

Lacob was asked whether this is a managerial issue.

“I think that’s exactly right. It’s totally a management issue,” said Lacob. General manager “Bob Myers and our head coach Steve Kerr are handling it. And they’re handling it very appropriately.”

Lacob said it hadn't occurred to the Warriors that it may appear as though they're choosing sides.

“It never even occurred to us. That’s not the point,” said Lacob. “The point is, whether it would be any employee, they’d have to act certain ways to be our employee. Draymond knows that he went beyond — won’t say what he did, or what he said, or anything like that — he went beyond what we felt appropriate, so it didn’t matter who it was.

“And he understands that, by the way. I’ve been texting with him, and he totally gets it. I do have a great relationship with him, and I still do.”

Sources say Draymond Green dared Kevin Durant to leave the Golden State Warriors in free agency in 2019, which led to his suspension.

“We don’t need you. We won without you. Leave,” sources say Green said to Durant.

Durant can become a free agent in 2019 just before the Warriors move to san Francisco.

The Warriors desperately want to re-sign Durant.

Sources say there was a point in the argument when Durant cringed and that it went from basketball to personal.

Sources close to Green say he took exception to Durant’s criticism because he felt his desire to win was being questioned.

Rival teams and players are trying to gather more information on the morale of the Warriors.

Kevin Durant has shown no interest in being traded by the Golden State Warriors.

Because Durant is on a one-plus-one contract, he would have to approve any trade.

The Warriors similarly have no interest in a trade.

“We’ve got a three-peat upon us,” said a source about a potential trade.

Durant can be a free agent in 2019 and his desires remain one of the NBA's most heavily speculated topics.