NBA suspends Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green indefinitely. What are the conditions of his return?
Given his disciplinary record in recent seasons, the Warriors star’s punishment comes as no surprise, but the unspecified length of it does raise an eyebrow.
It’s hard to believe that after serving a five-game suspension for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold not too long ago, once again the Warriors veteran has seemingly crossed a line. Will the severe nature of his punishment force him to learn a lesson? Time will tell.
Draymond Green suspended indefinitely by the NBA
If you caught Tuesday night’s game between the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns, then you most definitely saw the moment when Draymond Green was ejected from the game for seemingly taking a swing at the Suns’ center, Jusuf Nurkić. Quite frankly, it was an ugly sequence of events and one that appears to have landed the 33-year-old big man in more trouble than he’s been before. Indeed, on Wednesday the NBA announced that it would be suspending Green indefinitely, adding that he will “be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play.”
What exactly those conditions are has not been indicated nor for how long Green will be suspended, however, the league did indicate that it took “into account Green’s repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts” when determining his suspension. As for what comes next, reports also indicated that Green is now set to meet with the Warriors’ general manager Mike Dunleavy, and his agent on Thursday to begin finding a “path of counseling and help for Green to move forward.” Again, it remains unclear as to how that will pan out, but what we know is certain is that it’s likely to be a while before Draymond Green takes to the court again.
What happened between Draymond Green and Jusuf Nurkić?
It was during the third quarter of what turned out to be a 119-116 loss when Green started to battle for position with Nurkić as the ball was about to be in-bounded. Without warning, Green appeared to spin around suddenly and proceeded to swing at Nurkić, hitting the Bosnian directly in his face which in turn resulted in him going to the ground. Officials immediately called a foul on Green and quickly proceeded to upgrade it to a flagrant 2 which resulted in his ejection from the game. Green was apologetic post-game, but somewhat defensive as well. “I am not one to apologize for things I mean to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him,” Green said. “I sell calls with my arms ... so I was selling the call ... and I swung and unfortunately I hit him.”
What was the response to Draymond Green’s actions?
For his part, Nurkić was frank when discussing the incident, saying that Green’s swing “had nothing to do with basketball.” Suns head coach Frank Vogel was equally displeased with the situation, describing Green’s act as a “reckless, dangerous play.” Vogel didn’t stop there either. “I’m sensitive to our guys getting hit on plays like that,” Vogel said, via ESPN. “I didn’t like it. The refs did what they had to do. The league will do what they have to do.”
Does Draymond Green know how to behave?
As stated before, this is Green’s second suspension for the season, following a dust-up he had with the Minnesota Timberwolves forward Rudy Goebert just a few weeks ago. At the time Green claimed that he was defending his teammate, but video of the incident painted a different picture as Green could be seen taking Goebert by the neck from behind. As is his way, Green did not apologize for his actions after that game, saying that he would always defend his teammates. Conversely, he did admit that there “is room for growth and I need to be better in those moments in different situations.”
At this point, it remains unclear how this is all going to play out, but what is clear is that this marks the sixth time in his career, that Draymond Green has been suspended. That number when added to his 18 total ejections - the most among any active player in the NBA - does not give a good impression of the 4-time NBA champion. The question now is whether he will learn from this latest punishment and more importantly if the league itself will accept the idea that he has when the time for his return finally comes. The Warriors are now 10-13 as they prepare to face the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night, the first of possibly many games that Green will miss.