Draymond Green suspended indefinitely by NBA

Draymond Green suspended indefinitely by NBA

In lieu of striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic Tuesday night, which led to yet another ejection, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has been suspended indefinitely by the NBA, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report Wednesday evening.

According to Wojnarowski, Green, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Green’s agent, Rich Paul (Klutch), will discuss “path of counseling and help” for Green. He does not a specific timetable for a suspension, so he will need to complete these tasks diligently before return.

Thursday marked the third time that Green–who re-upped with Golden State on a four-year, $100 million deal at the start of this most recent free agency– has been ejected this season. He was already suspended five games for putting Wolves center Rudy Gobert in a chokehold and will almost certaintly miss more than five games this go around.

Jake Reno did a post earlier Wednesday on the aftermath of Green’s ejection; Nurkic and head coach Frank Vogel had interesting comments regarding Green’s actions.

“What’s going on him, I don’t know,” Nurkic said. “Personally, I feel like that brother needs help. I’m glad he didn’t try to choke me. At the same time, that had nothing to do with basketball. I’m just out there trying to play basketball.“

“I didn’t see a replay of it but it just looked like a reckless, dangerous play. Sensitive to our guys getting hit on plays like that. So I didn’t like it,” Vogel said. “Refs did what they had to do and the league will do what they have to do.”

The Warriors are in a tailspin right now, and this only adds fuel to the fire. Since their 6-2 start, Golden State has dropped 11 of its last 15 games with a minus-2.5 NET Rating over that stretch. The Warriors are 3-5 (-2.7 NET) in games without Green this season, 25-28 (-0.3 NET) over the last three years and 34-50 (-3.9 NET) over the last five years.

Both Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins have played significantly below expectations so far this season and now Green will miss more time due to suspension. Perhaps this could be a coming out party for Dario Saric–who’s performed beautifully as a hybrid 4/5 thus far–plus Moses Moody and rookie Brandin Podziemski, who closed ahead of Thompson Tuesday night.

Nevertheless, the Warriors need bodies to contribute if they want to get back above water heading as we approach the turn of the calendar.

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