The NBA has suspended Warriors forward Draymond Green “indefinitely” for his blow to the head of Jusuf Nurkic Tuesday night, the league announced Wednesday evening. Green will need to seek counseling and meet certain criteria set by the league before he can return to play. The suspension begins immediately, he will not play Thursday night in Los Angeles against the Clippers.
“This outcome takes into account Green’s repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts... He will be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play,” the league said in its official release.
Green was given a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected for this blow to the head of the Suns’ center late in the third quarter of their game Tuesday.
Draymond Green was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected after this play
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Nurkic will meet with his agent (Rich Paul of Klutch Sports) and the Warriors to “start discussing a path of counseling and help for Green to move forward,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said. Green has to meet specific criteria before returning to play, although it’s unclear what those criteria are.
This is a suspension without pay, costing Green about $154,000 a game. Green will be allowed to practice with the team while suspended, reports Chris Haynes of TNT/Bleacher Report.
This was Green’s third ejection this season and his second suspension. He was suspended five games for putting the Timberwolves Rudy Gobert in a chokehold during an altercation. During that time, both Stephen Curry and coach Steve Kerr talked with Green about how he couldn’t continue to hurt the team again with his absences.
“We need him, we need Draymond,” Kerr said after the Suns game. “He knows that, we’ve talked to him, and he’s got to find a way to keep his poise and be out there for his teammates.”
Green said the blow to Nurkic was unintentional, although after the game Nurkic said, “What’s going on with him? I don’t know. Personally, I feel like that brother needs help.”
“As you know, I’m not one to apologize for things that I meant to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him,” Green said after the game, saying he swung his arms trying to sell a foul call and accidentally hit Nurkic.
With Green out expect Jonathan Kuminga to get the start in his place. The real question might be will Kerr use this as an opportunity to start Dario Saric over Kevon Looney (Saric has outplayed Looney of late)? The Warriors have struggled with Kuminga and Looney on the court at the same time (-11.6 net rating when paired) and have thrived with Kuminga and Saric (+9.2, but largely against second units).
