'It was everything to me': Josh Green's Olympic bronze medal places ex-Cat in Ring of Honor

When Josh Green first stepped foot in McKale Center, he was among the most highly touted high school basketball players in the nation. He sat in the first row with future Arizona teammates Zeke Nnaji and Nico Mannion during the Red-Blue Game in 2018.

The last time Green was at McKale Center as a Wildcat, Arizona fell to Washington to end the regular season in 2020.

Three years later, Green, who’s now in his third season with the Dallas Mavericks, returned to Tucson for the Arizona-Utah game on Thursday and was officially inducted into the McKale Center Ring of Honor after he helped Australia win a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Nnaji, who was the ‘20 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, will be inducted into the Ring of Honor on Saturday.

“I was looking at all the names up there, and it’s cool to see that,” said Green, who came to town during the NBA All-Star break.

Green said “everything feels different being back” at the UA.

“It’s awesome and cool to be back here,” he said before Thursday’s tipoff. “I miss being in Arizona a lot, and I honestly can’t wait to watch the game tonight. It’s a different type of fan base than the NBA, so it’s cool to see that again.”

Green’s lone season at Arizona was unprecedented: The Wildcats’ season — and the rest of the sports world — abruptly ended in March 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns. Arizona ended its season with a postseason win. But the result didn’t include cutting down nets. Instead, the Wildcats, like so many others, were isolating at home.

Green was later selected in the first round of the virtual 2020 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Since then, Green has averaged 5.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game off the bench for the Mavericks.

With Mavs teammates Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber — along with former UA walk-one Kory Jones, who’s now an operations assistant with the Brooklyn Nets — also in attendance to support Green, the newest member of Arizona’s Ring of Honor reminisced about his time in Tucson and earning a bronze medal, which was the qualification for him being inducted into the Ring of Honor. Here’s what Green had to say:

How do you reflect on your time at Arizona?

A: “I miss it. I wish COVID didn’t prevent us from missing out on games. ... I miss playing at McKale and playing in front of the fans, all of it.”

What was that time like between the Pac-12 Tournament-opening win over Washington to when the NCAA shuttered postseason play due to pandemic concerns?

A: “That was like, what, 24 hours or whatever it was? There were a whole lot of emotions. It’s actually funny talking about it, because I’ve never actually talked about it in front of media, because it was three years ago. But it was a whole rollercoaster of emotions. We go from beating Washington and playing an amazing game and we feel like we have great momentum and everyone is really positive, to the next day we’re told the season is done. There were a lot of high hopes, and then we’re told COVID was going to ruin it, so I didn’t know what to think of it. It took me a week or so to think it through.”

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Between the pandemic, the wildfires back home in Australia and getting drafted in the first round, how do you summarize those emotions in such a short time frame?

A: “It was a crazy year. From everything going normal to COVID, and then COVID went into my rookie season. … But COVID affected everybody, so for me, it’s hard to say, ‘How did Covid affect it?’ Because it affected everybody. But it definitely made my college experience different, and it definitely made my first year in the NBA different.

“Obviously, I tried to do as much as I can with the fires in Australia, and it was cool to see the fans get behind me and help me out with that. Overall, I didn’t expect my freshman year to go out how it did, especially with COVID. I’m just happy with where I’m at today.”

What stands out to you about your NBA career up to this point?

A: “Obviously, COVID (caused) difficulties my rookie year and start of my second year. For me it was just making sure I stayed ready as much as I could and working out as much as I could, doing the little things right. I had a great group of veterans, who are in this room right now, keeping me level-headed.

“I was upset my first year. It was tough for me, going from playing a lot to playing absolutely nothing. I stayed level-headed and always worked on my game. I’ve always been a worker, and now I’m just going to build from that and be the best player I can be for me and the team.”

As someone who grew up in Australia, how would you describe the feeling of earning a medal and representing your home country?

A: “It was everything to me. Honestly, just putting on the green and gold was my first goal. Everyone’s goal is to obviously get a medal, but for me, being able to say I represented Australia is probably the coolest thing about it. A lot of people take it seriously, including myself, and I’d do anything for my country no matter what it was.

“Growing up, it wasn’t even basketball, I’d watch the ‘Socceroos,’ our soccer team, and other people do individual sports in the Olympics. I’d wake up at 3 a.m. and watch it. Putting on that green and gold jersey was amazing, but also having veterans like Patty Mills and Joe Ingles and (Matthew) Dellavedova that have been working for 15 years, to see their tears of excitement, it’s motivating, especially for the younger guys to continue the tradition.”

Do you still keep tabs on any of your former Arizona teammates?

A: “I talked to Zeke last night; we were playing the Nuggets. Zeke’s coming here this weekend. Nico is doing great, and I was able to spend some time with him at the Olympics in Tokyo. Everyone is doing well. … All great guys and I wish nothing but the best for them.”