NBA analysts surprised by Draymond Green suspension

Draymond Green is suspended for the biggest game of the Warriors’ title defense so far, Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Kings.

The NBA handed down the suspension late Tuesday night, about 24 hours after Green stepped on the chest of Sacramento center Domantas Sabonis, who had grabbed Green’s foot after falling during box-out.

“I’m disgusted with the NBA this morning,” Stephen A. Smith said Wednesday on First Take. “I’m sick and tired of everybody acting like this is just another game. It’s not just another game, it’s a playoff game. You got to do something far more flagrant than this to get suspended.”

The league, in its statement announcing the suspension, cited Green’s “history of unsportsmanlike acts”. NBA head of basketball operations Joe Dumars told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski Wednesday morning: “Here’s what it came down to: excessive and over-the-top actions, conduct detrimental and a repeat offender.”

Several observers, including The Athletic’s Sam Amick, also pointed to Green’s interaction with the Sacramento fans during the replay review and after his ejection as a potential escalation. Green was being jeered by the loud Kings crowd and, not unlike during last year’s blowout in Memphis, he leaned into the chaos, stepping up onto the Warriors’ bench and shouting back.

“I believe his histrionics, running around the gym, doing this with the commissioner in the building, I think that’s personally why he got suspended,” Charles Barkley said on Inside the NBA Tuesday night, before lamenting the conversation in the first place. ” … Let’s get one thing straight: (The Kings) have outplayed the Golden State Warriors, and we’re not even talking about that.”

"What really bothers me about this whole thing, to be honest with you, we're taking away from the fact that the Sacramento Kings are just kicking their ass."

Chuck on Draymond Green’s suspension pic.twitter.com/67rXBZQmyF

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 19, 2023

NBA sharpshooter-turned-commentator JJ Redick, like many Warriors supporters, pointed to Sabonis’ actions before Green stepped on him as another action worthy of a closer look.

“It’s very clear that Sabonis grabs Klay Thompson, tries to rip him down to the ground to draw a foul, and flops, and ends up at Draymond’s ankle, and then makes a dirty basketball play,” Redick said Wednesday morning on First Take.

“That is a non-basketball play, to grab someone’s ankle… I’m not saying Sabonis is a dirty player, but there’s some dirty play here.”

ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Marc Spears both said on Lowe’s Wednesday podcast that they were surprised by the suspension.

“There’s a sense within the organization that Sabonis is shoving people on offensive rebounds and playing with his elbows out and using the ball as a weapon, so of course someone eventually retaliated,” Lowe said. “You can give that any validity or not.”

Wojnarowski reported on ESPN’s early-morning show, Get Up, that the Warriors are “livid” with the suspension. The team will speak to media Wednesday afternoon at Chase Center. He also noted that the league interviewed Green, Sabonis and others Tuesday in determining a course of action.

“I don’t know what the conversation was between Draymond Green and the league office, but one thing the league does want to hear in a case like this, a situation like this, is a recognition that the act was wrong, that there was some remorse there,” Wojnarowski said. “I don’t know if Draymond Green expressed that or not with the league office.”

Green surely understands that, given the number of times he’s been involved in similar probes. He’s usually the one getting under someone’s skin, though. This time, he was reacting to Sabonis’ edgy move.

That’s part of why Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix argued that even the ejection was questionable, but the suspension is beyond that: “The NBA could have ended this story Wednesday. Instead it has made it bigger. And worse.”

Mannix and others also pointed to Dumars’ own personal history as a member of the “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons, perhaps the most notoriously physical, goading group in NBA history, as a confounding element of the decision. Spears mentioned that Dumars has a close relationship with Green stretching back to Green’s youth, complicating the choice to suspend the Warriors’ All-Star.

But the suspension is final. Wojnarowski noted that there’s very little recourse for the Warriors to appeal Green’s ban, especially in time for tipoff Thursday night.

So the Warriors will have to pivot quickly to find a way to slow down the Kings’ offense and stabilize themselves with a home win.