By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The National Basketball Association (NBA) isn’t taking things lightly anymore with Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green.
Following another on-court altercation several days ago which led to Green being tossed out in the game against the Phoenix Suns, Joe Dumars, the NBA’s Executive President and the Head of Basketball Operations, announced last December 18, 2023, that the veteran power forward will be suspended for at least three weeks.
Dumars said that their decision came from Green’s “repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts” during the course of the last NBA playing weeks.
According to veteran NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic, Green will also undergo counseling and will be cooperating with the Warriors franchise and the league committee.
It was also confirmed that Green is already preparing for his counseling program and is working side-by-side with the league to kick off the process.
In retrospect, Green was involved in a past melee against the Minnesota Timberwolves when he choked Gobert.
With only two minutes gone in the very first quarter of the Western Conference clash, Warriors’ shooting guard Klay Thompson and Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels got into it after pulling each other’s jerseys in the middle of the court.
After the referees whistled to stop the physical altercation, Gobert came in and grabbed Thompson by bear-hugging him.
Green then noticed what Gobert did to Thompson which forced him to headlock Minnesota’s starting center while dragging him to the other side of the court.
Both Thompson and McDaniels were whistled for technical fouls and ejection while Green was slapped with a Flagrant 2 foul and also exited the game.
After his incident with the Timberwolves, Green repeated his on-court misconduct last December 13, 2023, when he was whistled for a Flagrant Foul 2 after hitting Suns’ Jusuf Nurkic in the face.
Green was jockeying for position during an inbound play and was tightly guarded by Nurkic in the baseline. After a few seconds, the big man was caught swinging his arm that went directly to the center’s jaw.
Will the three-week counseling help Green and the Warriors? How much will his absence affect Golden State’s grueling playing schedule?
