Draymond Green made the headlines for all the wrong reasons yet again, during the game between the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns. Green was ejected for punching Jusuf Nurkic in the third quarter on Tuesday night, and Richard Jefferson called him out for hurting the game.
“Dray, what are you doing, man? You're too important and you're too good," Jefferson said. "This is getting to a space where you're hurting the game. What you are doing is bad for the game of basketball and you are good for the game of basketball but what you're doing, my brother, is bad for the game. Come on."
There is no denying that he is hurting the game with such antics. While you admire the tenacity with which he plays basketball, he can't keep crossing the line time and time again.
It was just under a month ago that the NBA suspended Green for five games for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold. One of these two incidents by themselves would have been a very bad look and when you put both of them together, it gets so much worse.
I expect the NBA to come down very hard on Green this time around. This is not the image that the league wants to portray and I don't think they'll just give him a slap on the wrist for this punch, considering the choking incident occurred so recently.
Draymond Green Apologized To Jusuf Nurkic
There were some who defended Green putting Gobert in a chokehold, as the Frenchman had grabbed Klay Thompson during a scuffle. No one was defending him this time around, though, and Green apologized to Nurkic for the punch.
"He was pulling my hip and I was swinging away to sell the call and made contact with him. I'm not one to apologize for things I meant to do but I will apologize to Jusuf because I didn't intend to hit him. I sell calls with my arms... I'm not a flopper. I was just selling the call because he was grabbing me and pulling my hip back."
Considering Draymond did not apologize to Gobert for the chokehold, there is perhaps truth to this. Green has lost the benefit of the doubt in these situations by now, though, and he only has himself to blame for it. As for Nurkic, he thinks Green needs help and ruthlessly stated he was glad the 33-year-old didn't try to choke him.
Draymond Green's Three Ejections Are Tied For His Most In A Season
This ejection was Draymond's third of the campaign and we are only 23 games into the season. To go with the ejections for the Nurkic and Gobert incidents, he had also been tossed after getting two technical fouls in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Green, who is now averaging 9.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game, has actually never been ejected more than thrice in one season and it's unfortunately safe to say he will break that personal record. The four-time All-Star just seems out of control at this point and his actions are hurting the team in a big way.
The Warriors would end up losing 119-116 to the Suns here and had Draymond stayed in the game, the outcome might have been different. He is still certainly quite impactful on the defensive end, but the way things are going, the Warriors can't rely on Green. They might have to start considering cutting ties, but I just don't see them going through with it.
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