Sports
Mike Dunleavy: Draymond Green, Warriors Worked with NBA on Indefinite Suspension – Bleacher Report
Golden State Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said the team and Draymond Green worked with the NBA to come up with terms of the All-Star forward’s indefinite suspension.
“We understand there’s a punishment that will take place, but this is also about helping somebody. They 100 percent agreed. So did Draymond,” Dunleavy told reporters Thursday.
The NBA suspended Green for repeated acts of on-court violence after he hit Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face Tuesday night. It’s the second time this season Green has been suspended, with the first being for grabbing Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert around the neck.
Draymond has been ejected after flagrant foul on Nurkić <a href="https://t.co/RmrLU5tdw8">pic.twitter.com/RmrLU5tdw8</a>
Green has been suspended for on-court conduct three times in a calendar year, and that’s not including an incident when he punched then-teammate Jordan Poole in the face during a training camp practice last season.
“He will be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play,” the NBA said in a statement regarding Green’s suspension.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Green and agent Rich Paul are expected to meet with Warriors officials to go over a “path of counseling and assistance.”
There has not been even a loose timetable set up for Green’s return, though it would stand to reason that he would miss more than the five games he received for the Gobert incident. Green apologized to Nurkić after Tuesday’s game.
“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.”
Nurkić also spoke to reporters after the game, saying Green “needs help.”
“What’s going on with him? I don’t know,” Nurkić said. “Personally, I feel like that brother needs help. I’m glad he didn’t try to choke me. At the same time, it ain’t nothing to do with basketball.”
Green is averaging 9.7 points, 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game this season.
