NBA suspends Warriors’ Draymond Green after his latest technical foul
LOS ANGELES — Draymond Green had been walking a tight rope for the last month as he sat one technical foul short of an automatic suspension. But the Warriors star slipped up Wednesday night, and it’ll cost him a paycheck and a game.
Green will serve his one-game suspension Friday in Atlanta after picking up his 16th technical foul.
Green was assessed a technical foul with 40 seconds remaining in the first half of Golden State’s 134-126 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers after he appeared to intentionally toss the ball at Russell Westbrook.
After the loss, Green said he was optimistic the league would rescind his 16th technical foul. But the league announced Thursday evening that the technical would stand, triggering an automatic one-game suspension (per league rules.)
Green picked up his 15th technical on Feb. 13 against Washington, but the Warriors had remained confident their loud star would be able to avoid another one that would mean an automatic one-game suspension. Now that he’s picked up his 16th tech, Green would face another one-game suspension for any additional two technicals he may incur the rest of the regular season.
Green’s suspension may not have come at a worse time for the Warriors, who are already playing short handed as they try to battle for playoff seeding in a tight Western Conference race.
Without Green on Friday, that leaves the Warriors with just nine active players against the Hawks — assuming Steph Curry, who’s listed as questionable with a sore thumb, and Kevon Looney, who’s probable with a sore back, are each cleared to play.
Green’s absence exacerbates Golden State’s current depleted roster issue. He will join a list of players who won’t play Friday that includes Andrew Wiggins, Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II and two-way player Andrew Lamb, who has used up his eligibility limit of 50 games this season.
It’s quite possible the Warriors will soon convert Lamb’s contract from a two-way deal into a standard NBA contract, which would fill their currently open 15th roster spot.
While Green will be eligible to return to the Warriors when they play the Grizzlies in Memphis on Saturday, there’s no guarantee when or if their other three inactive players will return to the court.
Wiggins has missed more than a month of action now to deal with a family matter and Payton remains sidelined with an abdominal injury that complicated the Warriors’ trade for him at the deadline. Golden State also announced Wednesday Iguodala will undergo what is feared to be season-ending surgery on his broken wrist next week.