Why is Draymond Green suspended indefinitely? His reckless ways pushed NBA to its breaking point
If enough wasn’t enough when the NBA suspended Draymond Green a month ago – and it should’ve been – the league reached its breaking point after Green’s latest transgression.
One day after Green threw a reckless and dangerous swing with his right arm that connected with Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic Tuesday, the NBA suspended Green indefinitely.
“This outcome takes into account Green’s repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts. ... He will be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play,” the league said in a news release announcing the punishment.
The league saves indefinite suspensions for its most serious situations – when Gilbert Arenas brought guns into the Washington Wizards' locker room in 2010; when Steve Francis kicked a courtside photographer in 2005; when Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O’Neal and Ben Wallace were involved in the Indiana-Detroit brawl in 2004.
Green, 33, has reached that level.
The league determined he is a liability on the court, and players are not safe with his conduct. It is a drastic measure the league doesn’t take lightly.
The conversation at the league office Wednesday regarding Green’s suspension was not centered on the amount of games it would suspend him. What would have been the right amount the day after? The NBA can’t have that recklessness on the court.
When the NBA suspended Green for five games on Nov. 15 for “escalating an on-court altercation and forcibly grabbing Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert around the neck in an unsportsmanlike and dangerous manner,” I wrote it should’ve been longer. The amount of games was not a deterrent, and the league seemed to acknowledge that the punishment was not meant to change Green’s behavior.
Green said at the time, “The consensus amongst all of us is that I'm going to be me no matter what. That's not going to change. But in saying that, there's always a better way that something can be done. So it's figuring out a better way. That's the consensus among all of us.”
But with the NBA’s decision Wednesday, it is telling Green that he must change and find the better way. It is telling him he needs help. Green has to figure out why he behaves like that and what he can do to change that behavior.
The league was not ready to divulge what kind of league and team conditions must be met for his return, but likely it will entail proving he has taken steps to address and rectify how he plays.
Secondary to Green but also related to him, the Warriors, perhaps unintentionally, are shutting the door on their dynasty. They are 10-13, in 11th place in the Western Conference, and Klay Thompson was benched in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s loss to Phoenix because Warriors coach Steve Kerr went with players who were producing. Thompson is a free agent after this season, and it’s a possibility he is not on the roster next season.
Green is in the first year of a four-year, $100 million contract, but this is his fourth suspension in the past ninth months and it should’ve been his fifth suspension in the past two seasons. But remember, the Warriors didn’t suspend Green for punching then-teammate Jordan Poole before the start of the 2022-23 season. Golden State had, if not condoned, accepted Green’s antics until recently.
The Warriors have a massive $400 million payroll, including luxury taxes they will pay, and no ownership group wants to pay that kind of money for a team that doesn’t make the playoffs. It’s been quite a run with championships in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. That run may be over. The West is deep with young teams on the rise.
That doesn’t mean Green’s career is over. In the right situation, he is still productive, and this season, he is shooting career-highs on 3-pointers (42.9%) and free throws (83.3%) and a solid 49% from the field.
Green plays on the edge, and sometimes that involves crossing the line. But there players who play with an edge and don’t cross the line as often as Green. Two-and-a-half weeks ago, I wrote, "Given Green’s history, it’s hard to believe this is the last time he will serve a suspension."
Who expected the next suspension to come just six games after his last suspension ended?
The NBA made it clear: there are no more lines to cross.
No one with compassion wants to see Green play himself out of the league.
