Danny Green is among the unique NBA players who have won titles with multiple teams, meaning he has a varied collection of championship rings, including one earned while playing with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Asked which of those meaningful pieces of jewelry he would sell if he had to, Green chose the Lakers ring he won in 2020.
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“I could probably make the most off the Lakers one,” Green said. “And that’s probably the one you want to keep. San Antonio is a little older, so it’s a nice ring. But it’s not as nice as Toronto. The Toronto one is ridiculous. It’s the biggest one.”
That 2020 title with the Lakers was Green’s most recent after also winning championships with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. The 36-year-old played 11 NBA games last season for the Memphis Grizzlies (three) and Cleveland Cavaliers (eight) while coming back from a knee injury, and there were reports the Lakers were looking at bringing him back.
Green mentioned that his Lakers ring has some other things tied to it besides on-court results, with the championship won in the COVID-19 bubble season and after Lakers icon Kobe Bryant tragically died in a helicopter accident earlier that year.
“I can possibly get the most money for it,” Green said. “It was a bubble year. It’s a Kobe year. And you know, Lakers fans, it’s a bigger fan base throughout the nation.
“Now, obviously, Canadians are special man. They treat you unbelievable. So it would be between those two. But I’ll probably keep the Toronto one and sell the L.A. one. Because I’ll get the most for the L.A. one, and the Toronto one I think, I wouldn’t say I like the most, but I think it’s, I wouldn’t say more meaningful but like, you know.”
The University of North Carolina product won his first NBA title in his fifth season, his fourth with the Spurs after playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers as a rookie. His San Antonio teammates included future Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, with head coach Gregg Popovich leading them past the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals to their final championship during a run of four titles in 12 seasons.
Kawhi Leonard was also on that Spurs team, and he and Green teamed up again to help the Raptors win their first and so far only NBA title in 2019 by defeating the Golden State Warriors. It was Green’s only season with the Raptors, and he moved on to the Lakers and won another title the next season with another Finals victory against the Heat.
Green’s playing future is unclear, but if he were to retire he would end with 830 games played with six teams and averages of 8.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
He averaged 9.2 points per game for the Spurs in the 2014 Finals, 7.3 points per game for the Raptors in 2019 and 7.5 points per game for the Lakers in 2020.
It is a worthy career filled with many memorable moments, plus the added bonus of three championship rings that are each special in their own way and have many reasons why it would be difficult to part with any of them.
