Perhaps my favorite stat line from this NBA season is that out of the 27 games the Golden State Warriors have played, temperamental star Draymond Green has been thrown out three times and suspended twice for a total of nine games and counting. That’s because his current suspension, which came for hitting Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić, is indefinite, and will probably run at least three weeks. For those keeping score at home, Green has now been ejected 20 times in his 12 years in the NBA, trailing only the retired Rasheed Wallace, but long past heavy hitters – and I mean that literally – like Dennis Rodman, Charles Barkley, and New York’s own Anthony Mason. Green’s ejections run the gamut of reasons and impact, although most did come from basically hitting someone. Maybe the most resonant was when he was suspended from the 2016 NBA Finals because of the cumulative number of flagrant fouls, including one where he seemed to punch LeBron James in the groin. That suspension perhaps cost Golden State another NBA Title. He was once suspended for fighting with his own teammate Kevin Durant, who not long thereafter decided to leave the Warriors. That’s not the only time he’s publicly fought with a teammate, including once when he was fined for punching Jordan Poole in the face during practice. The list goes on and on, but best put, Draymond Green is no choir boy.
Of course, Draymond Green is not the first dirty player in sports, even if he is the flavor of the week. Some are legendary – say, Ty Cobb. A whole bunch have won titles, like Bill Laimbeer, who admittedly was one of several dirty players on the 80’s Detroit Pistons. Then there was Ron Artest, who’s fairly or not is best known for getting into a fight with fans – also in Detroit. That’s without even touching football or hockey, where dirty players are often more lionized than villainized and given cool titles like enforcer. But even that is slowly evolving, especially in football where you can hardly touch a quarterback without being escorted off the field. Just this week, Steelers safety Damontae Kazee was given a three game suspension for what the NFL considers illegal hits, contact that would have been standard fare not that long ago. In other words, while Draymond Green isn’t entirely original, we have to remember this isn’t your father’s NBA.
What’s perhaps most interesting, if that’s the right word, about Green’s discretions, is how unnecessary most of them are. Like stepping on someone, or fighting with a teammate. These aren’t things that done in the heat of the moment of aggressive play, like a hard foul or even a fight over a rebound. That stuff makes sense, at least in the context of professional sports. What Draymond does is far less logical. Yes, in some cases it’s to gain some kind of psychological advantage. Honestly, who wants to mess with some guy who might hit you in the groin for no apparent reason. But at other times, it doesn’t seem to add up, especially when you know you’re going to get kicked out, at least after, say the 19th time.
Which leads to the larger question, what should the NBA do? In any other work environment, anyone who 20 times physically assaulted would logically be fired if not arrested. Yet we can expect Draymond Green back in a couple more weeks. I’m all for rehabilitation and second chances, but less so for the 21st. And what example are we sending, really to anyone if we make it clear that as long as you have an invaluable skill set, we will tolerate pretty much anything. Because we all know that if Draymond Green were a marginal NBA athlete, his career would have been over years ago. And we should remember that we’re not talking about transgressions off the court, like Ja Morant’s suspension for flashing a gun on Instagram. We’re talking about an offense to the game itself and the people who play it, who’s own work environment suffers because they have work with Draymond.
Should Draymond Green be allowed to return to the NBA? I could make a strong argument against it, even if I know I’d lose. Which means that we can all look forward to a stat line of his 21st suspension.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him at @KeithStrudler
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