Draymond Green has spent his entire career somewhere between genius and madness, accumulating titles, trophies and offenses in equal measure. But a series of brutal freakouts has now brought the league onto the scene. It is perhaps the last chance for improvement.
Draymond Green had done it again. The “biggest asshole in the NBA,” as many of his contemporaries call the Golden State Warriors power forward, once again had a brutal outburst on the floor. The frustration and resignation of his coaches and teammates during and after the action spoke volumes. They’ve been through this so often in Golden State that there’s not much left other than platitudes and mantras: “We need him. We need Draymond,” his coach pleaded almost hopelessly at the press conference towards his own player. “He knows that. We’ve talked to him. He has to find a way to maintain his composure and be there for his teammates.”
In mid-December, in the third quarter of the game against the Phoenix Suns, Green had fought for position against Jusuf Nurkic before, waving his arms demonstratively, he hit the Bosnian in the face with a wild all-round punch and sent him to the ground. The referees’ investigation didn’t take long and Green was sent off, for the third time in just 15 appearances this season. With 20 disqualifications in his career, Green ranks second on the all-time “best list”; only the notorious Rasheed Wallace achieved more in his career (29).
For the umpteenth time, the key player of the four-time champions was noticed by an excessively hard action. Green has spent his entire professional career walking the fine line between aggressiveness and brutality, between genius and madness. However, an escalating series of increasingly serious failures over the past 14 months has now brought the league into action after his club failed for a long time to contain the violations and put a decisive stop to the matter.
“I can’t aim that well”
Green apologized to Nurkic at the press conference after the Suns game – “You know I never apologize for things that I wanted to do, but I ask Jusuf for forgiveness because I really didn’t want to meet him. As best as I can “I didn’t aim. I just wanted to sell a foul” – but the NBA had already seen enough. She suspended the 33-year-old for the second time this season, just six games after he had already been suspended for five games weeks ago. At that time, Green shocked Rudy Gobert with a stranglehold, dragging the 2.16 meter, 120 kilogram Frenchman across the floor for meters and seconds before he let go.
The league took Green’s long criminal record as an opportunity to impose a suspension that had never been imposed before: the end is open, anything from a break of several weeks to a few months is possible. Instead of suspending Green for a certain, set number of games, as was previously the case, the focus was on long-term rehabilitation and preventing relapses into old patterns. “We didn’t want to commit to the number of games, but rather give him time to identify the cause and correct it. No matter how long it takes,” said Joe Dumars, something like the NBA’s highest discipline authority, and once as Player himself part of the “Bad Boys” Pistons, one of the toughest, most unfair and most feared teams in history.
Green will have to fulfill a number of requirements before he can return to the floor. Nobody knows exactly what the requirements are, but therapy is part of the whole thing and at least a three week break is inevitable – maybe more. That’s a minimum of 12-13 games on the sidelines. “This is about more than basketball,” Kerr said after the suspension was announced. “It’s about helping Draymond. It’s a chance for him to get some distance and make some changes in his life. It’s not easy, you can’t do that in five games.”
Boxed out your own teammate
The problem with Green is that, unlike before, he has no longer just lost control of his mouth. Once he was repeatedly noticed by a lot of complaining and overly demonstrative gestures, which earned him a series of technical fouls and thus, at some point, automatic bans from the game, the veteran has become more and more hot-tempered as he gets older. Uncontrolled. Raging. The recent loss of control is more than worrying, and the physical integrity of the opponents is increasingly in danger.
In 2016, Green kicked Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams in the groin in consecutive playoff games. In the 2016 NBA Finals, he sabotaged the ultimate season of his record-breaking Warriors, who had won an incredible 73 of 82 games this season and had actually taken a decisive 3-1 lead against LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. In the final phase of the fourth duel, which had already been decided, Green hit James’ soft parts and was suspended for game five. Cleveland managed a sensational comeback and ultimately won the title 4-3. In 2018, the Warriors themselves suspended him for an altercation with then-teammate Kevin Durant in the middle of a game played on national television.
A very dark chapter – and the beginning of the end – happened before the start of the 2022-23 season. Green and his young teammate Jordan Poole clashed in training, Poole pushed Green, who knocked the youngster to the ground with a brutal right. Unknown people filmed the altercation, sold it to the US scandal news site TMZ, and Green and the Warriors found themselves exposed to a shitstorm overnight. Golden State handled the matter in-house, sending Green home for a week and fining him. Not much changed. In the 2023 playoffs, he kicked Domantas Sabonis of the Sacramento Kings, who was lying on the ground, in the chest and was suspended for one game. Then the chokehold on Rudy Gobert earlier this season, now the round punch that hit Nurkic in the face…
Actually essential for Golden State
Why does a winning franchise like Golden State – itself the most successful dynasty of the past decade, with six Finals appearances, four championships and 537 wins since the 2013-14 season – tolerate a guy who is obviously increasingly losing control of himself, who is negligent about his health of his contemporaries and his team’s chances of success? Because Draymond Green is one of the best defenders of all time, an integral part of everything they did in Oakland and San Francisco. Without him, his toughness and defensive excellence, there would be no dynasty. He is her backbone, her muscle, her “extra”. Without him, the four banners (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022) will not hang under the ceiling in the “Chase Center”.
Green is the most versatile defensive player of the modern era. The 1.98 meter tall power forward single-handedly changed the way defense is played in the NBA forever. His versatility on the back end is unmatched. Nobody manages to check Nikola Jokic on the edge of the zone like him and neutralize lightning-fast guards in the half court seconds later. His overview, his basketball IQ and his anticipation are unparalleled. It’s as if Green’s brain is always operating one second ahead and can manipulate all elements in real time.
Green is also indispensable for Steph Curry. Not only does he have his back, he also reinforces everything that makes the best shooter of all time so dangerous. Their understanding of how they work together is perfect – an almost supernatural connection that is reflected in improvised actions, blind passes and an intuitive movement choreography that keeps Golden State’s attack constantly moving. Green remains “Steph’s boy,” and as long as the franchise player remains loyal to him, the club has no choice but to go with him. This summer, Green received a four-year, $100 million contract extension.
Last exit for Draymond and the “Dubs”
The season so far has been a complete disaster for the “Dubs”. Many want to blame Green for this. His escapades, his increasing escape into violent outbursts of this kind, are merely symptoms of a more complex phenomenon: the inevitable crumbling of a dynasty. The performances fluctuate more and more, well-known top performers like Klay Thompson or Andrew Wiggins are getting older and are playing weaker than they have for a long time. The starting line-up is a disaster, Steve Kerr has to rely more on his young bench players in order to provide any quality alongside Curry – the only star who calls up and delivers his workload as usual.
The frustration has noticeably increased for Green, a future Hall of Famer whose genius on the hardwood seems increasingly to be swallowed up by his uncouth crudeness. His illustrious story, from shunned second-round pick to fluke starter during his sophomore season to All-Defensive ace and four-time champion, is unparalleled. It is the darker side that is cause for concern. Nobody knows exactly what is bothering him outside of basketball; the club keeps a low profile as usual in order to protect its players and their privacy. But in contrast to the past, when respectable teammates like Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and ex-President Bob Myers were able to reach him and calm him down, there is now a complete lack of people to relate to. Nobody seems to have a real connection to him anymore – not even Curry.
Two years ago, during Golden States’ last championship season to date, the Californians had a record of 24 wins and five defeats in mid-December. They ended up finishing third in the West and won four straight playoff series, including 16 wins from 22 games en route to the number four title. This season the balance at the same time (December 16th) was ten wins, 14 defeats, eleventh place in the West. This places Golden State outside the play-in ranks. Nobody knows how long Green will be out, whether something will change, or whether his next freakout could be the last in the Warriors uniform and in the NBA altogether. There are scenarios where the big man returns reformed and helps the team flip the switch thanks to his fire and focus in the second half of the season. When they’re at their best, Green and these Dubs are still capable of running the league thanks to Curry. The weeks around the turn of the year will be crucial – for Green personally, as well as for these Golden State Warriors as we all knew them.