Draymond Green’s History of Excessive Acts

Following the second game of the first-round series between the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, the NBA has decided to suspend Warriors forward Draymond Green from game 3. This is because of an incident between Sacremento’s Domantas Sabonis and Green. In the fourth quarter of game 2 at the 7-minute mark, the Kings had a 4-point lead. Malik Monk drove into the paint and put up a floater which missed off of the back iron. As Sabonis was boxing out to grab the rebound he tripped and fell under Draymond. Sabonis then grabbed his leg, and in response, Green stopped his foot on Sabonis’ chest. This resulted in Green being ejected from the game, and the Warriors ended up losing 114-106, which now gives the Kings a 2-0 lead on the series.

This isn’t the first time Green has committed an unnecessary hostile act toward another player. In fact, one of the reasons that influenced the league’s decision to suspend him was his history of hurting other players. Joe Dumars the NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations said, “Here’s what it came down to: excessive and over-the-top actions, conduct detrimental, and a repeat defender. That’s what separates this when you end up with a suspension.” Many people are saying that the way the NBA handled his suspension was unfair to Draymond because they shouldn’t judge the situation using past incidents.

This isn’t Draymond’s first suspension from a playoff game. In game 5 of the NBA finals between the Warriors and the Cavs with 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Draymond tried to set Steph Curry a screen at the top of the key but was slightly pushed by Lebron causing him to fall over. Then Lebron tried to step over him but Draymond responded by swinging his arm at Lebron’s groin area. Because of this, he was suspended from game 5 and the Cavs went on to win the finals for the first time in franchise history. This would go down as one of the most controversial suspensions in the NBA’s history.

Earlier in game 3 of the 2016 Western Conference finals between the Warriors and the Thunder with six minutes in the second quarter, Draymond drove on Steven Adams and got fouled. However, when the play was reviewed it appeared that Draymond had kicked Adams in the groin area. Draymond was then given a flagrant 1. The following day the NBA followed up by fining him for $25,000 dollars. Even though the Warriors were able to win game 3 without Draymond, if he keeps up this behavior it could negatively affect the team.