On Sunday, Golden State Warriors’ star forward Draymond Green was suspended from Monday’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals for “unnecessary contact with a retaliatory swipe of his hand to the groin” of Cleveland Cavaliers star forward LeBron James during the fourth quarter of Friday’s Game 4.
The league made a statement saying Green would be suspended without pay for committing his fourth flagrant foul of the 2016 postseason. A player receives a point for each one, and this was Green’s “fourth point” thus resulting in the one-game suspension. Going forward, Green could earn another one- or two-game suspension for every new flagrant foul.
Here was the league’s official statement:
https://twitter.com/harrylylesjr/status/742056537737285632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And here is the play in question:
https://vine.co/v/iLuv5OFtK9W
The news of the suspension surprised a lot of people, with some taking Green’s side and some on the side of LeBron.
I am DONE with the NBA on this. Draymond Green suspended? Hiding behind a Flagrant 1. This is some straight BS. Absolute TRAVESTY!
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 12, 2016
New info on Draymond/LBJ here from @MarcJSpearsESPN: https://t.co/2qFePmTnp4 (also good morning @JustinTinsley!) pic.twitter.com/yVlsFNxbI3
— Ryan Cortes (@Ryan_Cortes) June 13, 2016
Stephen Jackson says this NBA suspension is BS and that he'll come to the game in a Draymond Green jersey https://t.co/v3no4yjXig
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) June 12, 2016
Draymond Green's agent B.J. Armstrong: "We got no comment. It is what it is, and let's move on."
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) June 12, 2016
1) No sympathy for Draymond Green. Dude was on double secret probation, Cavs knew it & LeBron took advantage of it. He fell for it.
— Joe Ovies (@joeovies) June 13, 2016
https://twitter.com/JonathanTjarks/status/742088789028261888
https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/742069240342052864
https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/742061016784211968
"We're still confident." Steph Curry responds to Draymond Green's suspension. #NBAFinalshttps://t.co/umiqoYzbip
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 13, 2016
And last but not last, Charles Barkley said Green had a “moral obligation” to do what he did.
https://soundcloud.com/bleacherreportradio/charles-barkley-when-a-man-stands-over-you-you-have-a-moral-obligation-to-punch-him-in-the-balls
Maybe some of the only good news for Green is that if the Warriors do close the series out on Monday night, he’ll be allowed back in to the locker room with his teammates to celebrate.
Sources: If the Warriors win Game 5 to close out the series Monday, Draymond Green is allowed in arena AFTER the game for title celebration.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) June 12, 2016
