SAN FRANCISCO — It was supposed to be a most epic night at Chase Center. Fans at a fever pitch, trying to outdo the fervor of the Sacramento fans in Games 1 and 2. E-40 back in the building. A palpable tension filling the arena before tip-off. The defending champion Warriors playing for their postseason lives. For their reputation. For their dynasty. In their way are the Kings — the exceptional, upstart Kings — looking to shock the world and announce their arrival as serious contenders.
The energy would pour through the television. Millions watching, perhaps a record audience for a first-round series that already produced the league’s best opening-game audience in over 20 years. Inevitably, Draymond Green would end up one-on-one against Domantas Sabonis. The electricity of playoff basketball shot directly into the veins.
But the NBA doesn’t want that. Not enough, anyway. Not more than they want to foray into respectability politics.
In an interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews, Joe Dumars, the NBA’s head of basketball operations, revealed the reason for the decision to suspend Draymond Green for Game 3 of the Western Conference first-round series on Thursday was three-fold. The act itself, Green’s behavior afterward — “conduct detrimental” he called it — and that he’s a repeat offender.
“We think in totality,” Dumars said on “NBA Today,” “you take all three of those things, and that’s where you end up landing with a suspension. If you separate them out individually, maybe not.”
So the suspension was not just about him stepping on Sabonis’ chest in Game 2. No doubt, it could’ve been. If the NBA had said the stomp alone or the possibility of Sabonis being too injured to play Thursday was worthy of suspension, that decision would’ve come earlier. That stance doesn’t need the debating that Dumars said went on all day Tuesday.
But it’s difficult to take that hard-line stance when Sabonis was the instigator. This wasn’t a situation Green concocted out of nowhere. He was aptly baited. Dumars said the NBA was satisfied with the live punishment the refs gave Sabonis, a technical foul. If this was just about Green’s stomp, they were surely satisfied with the punishment the refs gave him on the court too: a Flagrant 2 foul and ejection from a game the Warriors eventually lost.
But the driving force for the suspension was the antics afterward. Green running to center court and imploring the Sacramento fans to shower him with boos. Then standing on a chair doing more yelling, hurling expletives back to the birds the crowd was flipping. Then, the situation entered into respectability politics. It became more about decorum and ideas of professionalism.
In the end, it came down to the NBA not liking how Green operates.
He’s too loud. Too brash. Too aggressive. Too demonstrative. Too annoying. Too arrogant. Too unapologetic about being too extra. It had been reported and sure felt like a remorseful Green, one who took the microphone and revealed a sense of shame following the incident, would be playing in Game 3.
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This is an instance of the NBA taking itself way too seriously or, perhaps even worse, pandering to the fans who do.
People really think this is a courtroom, huh? All the soapboxing, character judgments and pearl clutching. People citing previous cases and exhibits of evidence. Even Dumars’ language — “repeat offender” and “conduct detrimental” — is legal jargon. Green is for sure being convicted by the court of public opinion. He is hardly the humble and polite defendant.
There is no defense for crimes of personality, and the Warriors didn’t put on one Wednesday. Bob Myers, the Warriors’ president of basketball operations, gave no impassioned plea or heartfelt explanation. No anger was revealed at the league’s decision. No frustration with Green rose to the surface. No fervent support or strong rebuke in either direction. Myers, as he expertly does, weaved around questions and landmine responses to make sure he said not much of anything. And his ducking was on behalf of the franchise.
“We’ve been here before,” Myers said. “Once these decisions are made, there’s no appellate court. It’s over. You can react however you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s not playing.”
In fairness, there isn’t much to say. They know who Green is, how out of control he gets. They know this is the price of riding with him. They get it: Many don’t like him. Sometimes, they don’t themselves. Undoubtedly, they agree with the NBA and would prefer Green tone it down, especially in those combustible moments. They, too, wish he’d be guided more by the humility they see behind the scenes and not by the hubris that shrouds him on the court.
“He’s a force. The guy’s a force,” Myers said. “But he will tell you that he’s made mistakes. Can’t hide from them. They’re out there for everybody to see. He’s got a good heart. He does. I know that. But that doesn’t mean he’s mistake-free. I’m not. Nobody is. … Complicated guy, for sure.”
But they also see the full value of Green. They also enjoy the perks of what he has delivered. It’s part of the package. They accept it. This means they have no choice but to accept the NBA’s ruling and the cost of Green’s actions.
Sometimes, they end up in these moments, having their series altered and having press conferences to explain. Sometimes, they end up hoisting a trophy.
“Again, it’s not anything that we can control,” Steve Kerr said. “Draymond is incredibly competitive and passionate and fiery, and he’s helped us win four championships. I’ve said it many times, we don’t have a single championship here without Draymond Green. And that’s the truth. So he’s crossed the line over the years, and that’s part of it. We will go to bat for Draymond and go to battle with him every day of the week.”
“Winning is messy,” Myers added, “if you want to be honest about it.”
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Green should be punished when he breaks the rules. And he is. You’d be hard-pressed to find a player punished more than Green. His steepest price was the NBA Finals they lost in 2016 after he was suspended for Game 5. He gets ejected. He racks up technical fouls. He pays fines. His reputation is etched. He just is who he is. It works for him more than it doesn’t. Feel free to like him or hate him. But this bent for him to be different, to fit into a mold, seems to stray from the league’s ultimate goal.
What the NBA lost sight of in this particular situation is that Green is a character in a great production, a willing and exceptional villain. The NBA has had them before. Part of the surprise of Dumars’ suspension is he played with one of them in Bill Laimbeer. His entire team wore a black hat, literally, and are legends because of it.
These dudes become legendary figures because they add to the storyline. The point is for them to be unlikeable. The point is to have someone to root against. The NBA is built on rivalries and drama. They’re on TNT, which knows drama. IT IS A GAME.
Green was ejected for the stomp. His team lost Game 2, largely because he wasn’t on the court. And he has two flagrant foul points, two away from another suspension. But this suspension came because Green’s antics were unappealing to them. Because they saw him egging on the raucous crowd as some breach of civility.
But what if they chose to see that differently? They could see it like many others do, as hella entertaining, and lean into it. Punish him for what he does wrong and leave it at that. If they fined him for his antics after the stomp — on top of the ejection — and moved on, who’d be really harmed?
Sure, some fans would cry rivers, be appalled on social media and wail about the decline of humanity. But then they’d tune right in for Game 3 and see what happens next. Just like people did in the ’90s when it was the Pistons and Bulls.
Instead, the NBA saw it as “conduct detrimental” and may have sacrificed an incredible series. It’s their league. Their call. Our loss.
(Photo: Loren Elliott / Getty Images)
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