During the 2015-16 NBA season, Draymond Green led the Warriors at 34.7 minutes per game.
But during Team USA's run to the gold medal in Rio, Green averaged just 9.9 minutes in eight games.
In the gold medal game against Serbia, he didn't enter the game until the fourth quarter.
So what was the reasoning behind Green's limited role?
Sacrifice, according to Team USA assistant coach Jim Boeheim.
"The hardest thing for me as a coach is to tell players that work hard and do what you want them to do, and I have them on my team, I have 12 guys, and you tell basically two or three of them that they're not going to play. And they're giving you everything they've got," Boeheim told SiriusXM NBA Radio on Monday.
Golden State Warriors
Along with Green, former Warriors forward Harrison Barnes played limited minutes, averaging a team-low 8.0 minutes per game. Boeheim explained why those two players didn't see much playing time.
"Harrison Barnes was a model player. He practiced every day, he worked. Draymond Green is coming off almost his second championship in a row and we all know is a great player, but he was a little too small for the center spot against these European players. And we had Carmelo [Anthony] and Kevin [Durant] at the big forward, and we have Paul George and Jimmy Butler and guys like that at the small forward. But his enthusiasm was great throughout, he talked throughout. And when he played, he played all out. Yeah, it's tough to do that, but two or three guys do sacrifice," Boeheim said.
Their ability to sacrifice netted Green and Barnes gold medals.
