I largely do not have a problem with Draymond Green’s antics. Sports are supposed to be entertainment. As long as he is not undercutting players driving to the basket or trying to sprain the ankles of jump shooters, I could care less if he chokes Rudy Gobert in a scrum. When he clocked Jusuf Nurkić during the Golden State Warriors’ Tuesday night matchup against the Phoenix Suns, I simply shook my head and lightly snickered. That moment sure made up for Kevin Durant being ruled out, further delaying the debut of the Suns’ “Big Three.”
Green was correctly issued a Flagrant 2 for his actions. He and Nurkić were jostling for position, and then he flipped around, wound up and struck Nurkić on the side of the face. There is no way to confirm that Green’s exact goal was to hit him with a knife-edged chop. That being said, who does that? In what way is that the appropriate way to respond on a basketball court? If he was that upset, a quick hand-slap and stare down usually conveys the point.
In Draymond Green Land though, a wild and blind swing is the correct reaction to the way that basketball has been played for more than 100 years. Maybe this rage towards Nurkić has been building the way that it possibly had been towards Gobert. There is a slim possibility that Green has been the bigger man and ignored Nurkić’s dirty play.
I ran a quick YouTube search with both of their names less than a half hour after the incident and the only conflict between the two that showed up was Green’s swing on Tuesday, and Nurkić blocking Green’s shot back when Nurkić still played for the Denver Nuggets. There were some individual incidents of Nurkić getting pissy, and, of course, reckless behavior by Green, but no prior altercations between the two.
Green is a 33 with four championship rings and has signed his name on two $100 million contracts. No punishment is going to make him change his ways. He received the second contract after punching a teammate. That teammate — Jordan Poole — is throwing basketballs all over DC, while Green has a player option after his 37th birthday.
Maybe suspending Green for the rest of this season would make a point, but it could also make him even more defiant. More importantly, the NBPA would fight that punishment. He will probably be suspended until mid to late January. A message has to appear to be sent even if he will probably refuse to heed it.
The millennial NBA bully has bought all the way into his role and has no incentive to change. If Green wasn’t kicking, stomping, choking and swinging, he would not have been in that In-Season Tournament commercial. Green is one of the most notable personalities in the league. Love him or hate him, his actions always bring forth strong reactions.
Social media can @ Adam Silver all that it wants. Green is a fully formed adult who is going to continue to do what has gotten him paid. The only way to stop Green would be to banish him, and he has not done anything close to worthy of that punishment.
All that the NBA can do is gradually chop away at earnings and make sure to coordinate with his publicist the next time that he is needed for a commercial.
Original source here
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