The Golden State Warriors will be without the services of Draymond Green for the next five games after the NBA handed down punishment for Tuesday night’s kerfuffle against the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
After Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels got tangled up in a jersey tug-of-war, Rudy Gobert grabbed Klay Thompson from behind to pry him off his teammate, which led to Draymond Green jumping in and putting Gobert in a chokehold. Green did not release Gobert after he let go of Thompson and had the sleeper locked in for a good amount of time before finally letting go. Green, Thompson, and McDaniels were all ejected from the game. But while we’re still waiting for official word from the league, it’s safe to assume that Green’s actions were seen as an unnecessary escalation of the scrap and, given his history of altercations, it comes as little surprise the league would respond with a suspension of this magnitude.
The NBA is suspending Golden State’s Draymond Green for five games, source tells ESPN. Significant hit for the Warriors. pic.twitter.com/QlexGdXNUd
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 16, 2023
Green has been suspended a handful of times in the past, both by the league and the Warriors. He was suspended twice a season ago, once by the league for stomping on Domantas Sabonis in the Warriors-Kings playoff series and once by the team during training camp for punching Jordan Poole in the face at practice. This will be the longest suspension of his career, as he has typically just served one-game suspensions for his antics, but this time the league clearly wanted to send a stronger message that you can’t throw guys in chokeholds on the court.
