Jusuf Nurkic Thinks Draymond Green Needs To Seek Help
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green will almost certainly face another suspension after his actions Tuesday evening in a loss to the Phoenix Suns. Green was ejected for the third time this season after striking Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face while fighting for positioning.
Green made up an excuse and apologized for his actions towards Nurkic.
“He was pulling my hip and I was swinging away to sell the call,” Green said after Tuesday’s three-point loss. “I made contact with him. As you know, I’m not one to apologize for things I meant to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf, because I didn’t intend to hit him.“
Nurkic, on the other hand, didn’t quite see it this way.
“What’s going on him, I don’t know,” he 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.“
Green has already served a five-game suspension for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold and this next suspension may be longer. Tuesday marked the 18th time that Green has been ejected during his 12 years in the NBA.
“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,” Suns head coach Frank Vogel commented after the game. “Refs did what they had to do and the league will do what they have to do.”
As a Warriors fan, these actions are becoming impossible to defend. During the championship years, we always knew that Green was physical but his defense and overall importance to the team outweighed it. Now, these actions are becoming detrimental and the overall record reflects that. Klay Thompson is having an off year, Andrew Wiggins is failing to show up, and now having Green miss all these games is making it impossible for this team to win.
The organization needs to have a serious sitdown with Green and get it through his head that this simply cannot happen. If this behavior continues, I would have no problem seeing him get shipped off for someone else to deal with.
