Janie McCauley, Associated Press
Published Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 9:09pm EST
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green punched Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face on Wednesday, 24 hours after being ejected for a flagrant two foul. Shortly thereafter, he was suspended indefinitely by the NBA.
The league announced that the penalty handed down by operations director Joe Dumars will begin immediately. This is Green’s second suspension this season.
“He must meet certain league and team conditions before returning to play,” the league said.
“This finding takes into account Green’s history of unsportsmanlike conduct,” the NBA said in a statement.
The Warriors did not release a statement Wednesday, but said Green’s suspension will be addressed at Thursday’s shootaround in Los Angeles ahead of their game against the Clippers.
Green, 33, who helped lead the Warriors to four championships, was ejected for the 18th time in his career, the most of any active NBA player.
As the Warriors were inbounding the ball near their own bench early in the third quarter of a 119-116 loss to Phoenix, Green and Nurkic were competing for position near the baseline corner and the two became tangled. . Green appeared to slip slightly, then pivoted right toward Nurkic and connected his right arm to the big man’s face.
Nurkic immediately fell to the ground and remained there for a moment before getting back up and staying in the match.
“It had nothing to do with basketball,” Nurkic said. “I’m just out trying to play basketball.”
Green was suspended for five games by the NBA for putting Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert in a headlock during an altercation in November.
There is almost no precedent for an indefinite suspension of activities. In 2010, then-commissioner David Stern suspended Washington guard Gilbert Arenas indefinitely for bringing a firearm into the team’s locker room. This foreshadowed a 50-game suspension for Arenas, but Stern said, “His continued conduct has led us to conclude that he is currently unfit to be on the court in an NBA game.” said.
Green was named the 2022 NBA champion during training camp last season after the star forward violently punched then-teammate Jordan Poole in the face in what coach Steve Kerr called a “mutual decision.” I took a vacation from Neither player was injured.
New Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said he intended to keep Green when he took over after last season, and shortly after signed him to a new $100 million, four-year contract at the end of June. Kerr has always said he loves Green’s intense, pushing-the-limits style of play, and it will be interesting to see how both players navigate this latest discipline.
Last spring, Green was suspended for stepping on Domantas Sabonis’ chest in Game 3 of the playoffs against the Sacramento Kings during a Game 2 loss. The Warriors came back from a 0-2 deficit to become the first defending champions to win a playoff series.
Golden State suspended Green for one game in November 2018 for conduct detrimental to the team. Near the end of regulation in a 121-116 overtime loss to the Clippers, Green secured a rebound and when Kevin Durant called for the ball, he instead dribbled the length of the court into traffic, preventing the Warriors from scoring. lost control. shot off. Durant was seen on camera visibly upset, and the two later made up.
In 2016, Green was suspended after racking up too many flagrant fouls in that season’s playoffs, a decisive Game 5 loss to LeBron James’ Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. The Warriors lost in seven games. Then-GM Bob Myers sat next to Green at Oracle Arena at the Oakland Coliseum for that game, which Green missed.
Green, who was drafted in the second round of the 2012 draft out of Michigan State, is averaging 9.7 points, 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds in 15 games this season. He has reiterated recently how much their chemistry has improved this season. Poole was traded to Washington for Chris Paul on draft day.
“It was hard to go to work,” Green said, “and it wasn’t fun.”
“Last year we were a terrible team chemistry-wise. It’s pathetic,” he said. You look at last year and think, “Oh, this team never lost a Western Conference series under Steve Kerr.” And it happens. The biggest reason for this is that our chemistry is terrible. ”
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Associated Press basketball writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
