Draymond Green is back for the Warriors with their In-Season Tournament hopes on the line Tuesday night in Sacramento, but he knows he’ll have to make himself much more available for his team going forward.
Due to injuries, ejections and suspensions, Green has played just seven full games this season for the Warriors (8-9). He has finished serving a five-game suspension for choking Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert on Nov. 14.
Green got thrown out of that Minnesota game just 103 seconds after tipoff when he threw himself into a skirmish and removed Rudy Gobert from the equation with a choke hold for several seconds. The Warriors went 2-3 in the five following games Green was ineligible to suit up.
Speaking with reporters for the first time since the Gobert incident, Green defended himself for sticking up for his teammate Klay Thompson, but recognized that he should’ve gone about it in a different manner.
“For me personally, I have to be on the court for my teammates,” Green said. “Our chances of winning drops dramatically if I’m not out there. So I have to be better at being there, and as one of the leaders of this group, just got to find different ways. I think that’s the biggest lesson in all of it: yeah, you’ve got to be there for your teammate, but you’ve got to do it differently. The same way you’d do something when I was 26, I can’t do now that I’m 33. That’s kind of what it boils down to. I can be better there, and I will. I’ll continue to grow through different things you go through in life.”
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr previously said that Green “definitely took it too far” with his actions against Gobert, adding that the five-game penalty was appropriate.
Green has been suspended multiple times in the past. He has also led the NBA in technical fouls three times in his career.
Last year, when the NBA suspended Green one game for stomping on Domantas Sabonis’ chest during the playoffs, the league cited Green’s history as a repeat offender as a determining factor. Given Green’s actions and his lack of remorse for them — even with Gobert, he said he doesn’t have regrets — his past will likely hang over him as long as he’s playing. Escalating penalties for repeat offenders is an incentive to change behavior, so until Green changes his on-court outbursts, he’ll be held to a high standard.
Green took some umbrage with that concept.
“To continue mentioning ‘oh, what he did in the past’ — I’ve paid for those,” Green said. “I got suspended in Game 5 of the Finals. So you can’t keep suspending me for those actions. But in saying that, I’m also not one to admit when I’m at fault. It is what it is, but any time there’s a situation where a teammate needs you to come to their defense, I’m going to come to their defense. And that’s just that. Especially with someone I’ve been playing with for 12 years. That’s more than a teammate, that’s a brother.”