The Warriors’ Draymond Green was in mourning Monday for a friend who died over the weekend after being hit by a train in Albion, Michigan. Zachary Winston, 19, a student and basketball player at Albion College, intentionally stepped in front of the train, the Detroit Free Press reported, via the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Zachary Winston’s brother Cassius plays for Michigan State, Green’s alma mater.
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“It sucks man,” Green said. My prayers go out to the Winston family. It leads to so many questions, like, what could I have done better? It sucks. I can’t even imagine how they feel. I think for Cassius to play yesterday was huge for him for him, because it’s two hours where you can think about something else.”
Cassius Winston started Sunday’s game for top-ranked Michigan State, scoring 17 points and distributing 11 assists. “We left it to Cassius,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo told ESPN. “I expected him not to play, but everyone grieves a different way, and we left it 100 percent to Cassius. His brothers are the world to him.”
Green said he knew the victim for “four or five years.”
“Over the last few years I got to know him a lot better,” Green said. “It sucks, it really does. It’s tough. It’s a tough one.”
After Sunday’s game, Cassius Winston posted on Instagram: “I love you bro, w everything I have in my entire body. I love you so much, if I could carry yo pain I would wear it on my shoulders just to see you happy and wouldn’t think twice. Yo story won’t end here. I can promise you that, the next time I run into someone in your situation ima save them, cause that’s wha you would want me to do.”
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