The NBA came down hard on Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green Tuesday night, suspending the four-time NBA champion for Game 3 of the playoff series against the Sacramento Kings.
Green was suspended after being ejected from Monday night’s game with 7:03 remaining in the fourth quarter after stomping on the chest of Kings All-Star Domantas Sabonis.
Draymond Green, #23 of the Golden State Warriors, moves the ball during Round 1 Game 2 of the 2023 NBA Playoffs on April 17, 2023 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. (Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
When announcing the suspension, the NBA said Green’s “history of unsportsmanlike acts” factored into the decision.
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ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith discussed the suspension, and he was not happy about it.
“I’m disgusted with the NBA this morning,” Smith said on Wednesday. “I’m sick and tired of everybody acting like this is just another game. It’s not just another game. It’s a playoff game. You got to do something far more flagrant than this to be suspended.”
After going over Green’s history of playoff unsportsmanlike acts, Smith noted that Sabonis played a role in the altercation.
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Draymond Green, #23 of the Golden State Warriors, reacts to a call during the third quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center on March 28, 2023 in San Francisco. (Photo by Loren Elliott/Getty Images)
“My issue is, you see what Sabonis has done,” Smith said. “He’s not some innocent bystander in all of this. Context, which I’ll leave it to J.J. [Redick] to provide, definitely needs to be taken into consideration here.
“And then you got to take into consideration that it’s the damn playoffs. And considering how great Sacramento has looked in this series, and how great they have looked all season, for us to be sitting here and to be talking about this, and potentially how this will seal Golden State’s fate is a damn shame.”
NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars told ESPN that Green’s “excessive and over-the-top actions” played a large role in the decision to suspend him.
Draymond Green, #23 of the Golden State Warriors, steps over Domantas Sabonis, #10 of the Sacramento Kings, in the second half during Game Two of the Western Conference First Round Playoffs at Golden 1 Center on April 17, 2023 in Sacramento, California. Green was issued a flagrant foul 2 on the play, and ejected from the game. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
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“Here’s what it came down to: Excessive and over-the-top actions, conduct detrimental and a repeat offender,” Dumars told ESPN. “That’s what separates this where you end up with a suspension.”
The Warriors face their first 0-2 deficit in a playoff series since 2007.
