Why Draymond Green’s suspension isn’t the Warriors’ greatest issue

Drake Green was in frigid water up to his waist. In this poorly lit room, his voice reverberated off the gray tile walls as he attempted to explain why he kept getting targeted by the NBA for acts of unsportsmanship on the floor. The Golden State Warriors’ head coach, Steve Kerr, was becoming impatient next door after his team’s lackluster 110-106 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on December 6. Kerr said that the club’s core group could need to be changed after the squad struggled through the first quarter of the season.

Green didn’t shiver, though. Not even once.

He didn’t display any emotions, not even a hint of fear that the run he and his team had been on was finally coming to an end or the chilling cold water.

“If you can’t manage your emotions, you don’t become what I’ve been,” Green said to ESPN during his fourth game following a five-game ban for strangling Rudy Gobert. “Lack of emotional control prevents you from winning four titles.

“I like the chance to establish my worth once more. That’s how I got through this. As in, “Oh, it seems like they’re doubting and questioning you again.” They are doubting your moral character. It’s comfortable ground for me, having spent my entire life having to prove myself.”

It was the classic green. rivalry, resolute. Rough edges: The Warriors can never truly sand down or survive without them. He was determined to uphold this approach for as long as he could, since that is how he has established himself in the NBA.

“We started this project from scratch. It’s our child. Green went on, “You don’t just let your baby go.” “You struggle to maintain that for as long as you can. Respect is one of the key components of keeping that. The struggle is done the moment you lose credibility.”

The test, or more accurately, the “battle,” as he viewed it that evening, was to demonstrate his ability to manage his conduct and continue playing for a team that sorely needed him.

“My team suffers when I’m not playing,” stated Green. Therefore, it will be more about, “What can you do as a leader to salvage this team?’ for me. You need to set aside your pride. You need to swallow your ego. You have to set yourself aside as a human being as well, in a way.”

A week later, Green got into a fight with Suns center Devin Booker as his team was playing them on the sidelines. Green whirled, thrashed, and struck the seven-foot center in the face with a palm on his hip, sending the large guy crashing to the ground. Subsequently, Green said he was trying to draw a foul, that hitting wasn’t his intention, and that he was aware of the flagrant 2 call and expulsion.

The NBA rejected it. The league suspended him indefinitely the next day. Green has been suspended four times in less than two years.

Although there is still a lot of support for Green in the Warriors organization, according to insiders, the league office’s tolerance has obviously worn thin.

The Warriors’ history and leadership were taken into consideration by the NBA, which allowed them to handle the situation internally when Green struck teammate Jordan Poole during practice last year. The NBA would give them that leeway if Kerr—who was infamously punched by Chicago Bulls teammate Michael Jordan during his playing career—and general manager Bob Myers, together with owner Joe Lacob, thought they could handle the matter responsibly on the inside. Making the choice was difficult.

Sources with knowledge of the matter claim that there were opinions within the league office and the organization that thought Green ought to have been punished more severely than a week away from the squad.

Now that latitude is lost.

Green told ESPN that he planned to call Nurkic to apologize for connecting on the hit and to clarify that he did not want to hurt him, just hours before the NBA announced the indefinite suspension. He said he had “failed” and that he was trying to sell a foul call because Nurkic was clutching his hip.

He said, “I’ve stood on all of those things and done things that have gotten me pulled out of the game.” “I stand by those things without wavering. I don’t back down from a commitment because of the possibility of a ban. That’s not who I am. I really am the person that I claim to be. I only offer an apology for actions that I did not intend to take. I don’t simply come out to save face by apologizing. That isn’t my identity.

“But I wanted to apologize because I didn’t mean to do that.”

One of the most interesting characters in the NBA is Green. When defending himself and attempting to justify his actions in each instance, he does it with great fervor.

The NBA doesn’t believe it or doesn’t want to hear it any more. In any case, it wants the violent confrontations, the justifications, and the barriers to stop.

Nobody can guarantee it will.

General manager of the Warriors Mike Dunleavy remarked, “I can’t guarantee you that.” “All I can say is that we’ll keep doing what’s right to support him.”