Draymond Green’s high-risk act no longer worth the reward for Warriors

Draymond Green crosses the line more than Kadarius Toney. As Charlie Murphy famously put it in Chappelle's Show, he’s a habitual line stepper.

Last season, Green punched a teammate, shattered the Golden State Warriors' championship chemistry and wasted a year of Stephen Curry’s extended prime. Remarkably, this season has started off worse. Tuesday night, Green was ejected for a flagrant two foul on Jusuf Nurkic.

A day later, the NBA has suspended Green indefinitely, referencing a "repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts."

The league office says Green will have to "meet certain league and team conditions" for his indefinite suspension to end.

It's his fourth suspension in this calendar year.

After each one, you’ve never heard him be contrite. Not once has he said his actions were wrong. His excuse this time was selling a foul call gone wrong, not dirty play. “I sell calls with my arms … so I’m selling the call … and I swung and, unfortunately, I hit him,” he said afterward.

So, this time he said he was guilty of flopping. The league has put an emphasis on cleaning up what it calls “secondary theoretical exaggerated movements,” aka flopping. So, Green’s admission of guilt to a misdemeanor doesn’t nullify the capital crime.

Green doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt, as there is compound interest to the list of his infractions.

He can continue to gaslight us in the press conferences after these acts, but the truth is the why doesn’t matter. No matter his intent, the reality is he can’t control his emotions and/or his limbs enough to stay on the court for his team.

What’s being lost is that Green’s claim to be a good leader and teammate is invalid as the issue persists. Those things are mutually exclusive. The Warriors have lost four of their last six, six of their last 10 and nine of their last 13. They’re playing like a bad team that badly needs him. Green has played in just 15 of the Warriors' 23 games this season.

This season, Green continues his on-again, off-again pattern, playing nine games, being suspended five games, playing six games and now is suspended indefinitely.

This season alone, he’s been ejected a league-high three times. That ties his career high.

The Warriors are 2-6 in games he’s been suspended or ejected. All of his suspensions were unprovoked. He’s actively choosing to put himself above the team.

Green has given up almost $800,000 since October alone due to fines and suspensions, and the meter is still running.

Over the course of his career, he’s had 18 ejections, the second-most in the last 25 years to Rasheed Wallace’s 25.

Green has been suspended five times in his career, four suspensions in the last 15 months and three in his last 26 games. None of his teammates have ever been suspended. This isn’t just bad luck, it’s a series of bad choices.

This is not an anomaly, it’s an increasing pattern of behaviour.

It’s taken less and less to provoke Green, and yet his reactions continue to escalate.

In November, he was suspended five games for an altercation with Rudy Gobert.

In April, he was suspended one playoff game for an altercation with Domantas Sabonis.

In March, he was suspended one game for recording his 16th technical.

All the way back in November 2018, he was suspended one game for conduct detrimental and in June 2016, he was suspended one game for his altercation with LeBron James that changed the course of the NBA Finals the Warriors had under control.

I thought the turning point would be the November 2018 game versus the Los Angeles Clippers, where he blew up on Kevin Durant and jeopardized the continuity of that dynasty.

Instead, things have steadily gotten worse. The leaping sucker punch of Jordan Poole, stomping on the chest of Domantas Sabonis, the choke of Rudy Gobert or spinning backhand on Nurkic. Green is channeling Mortal Kombat, not NBA2K.

He’s becoming the Ndamukong Suh of the NBA, where out of nowhere he sees red and does an inexplicable dirty act that overwrites the great defensive player he is.

It’s come to the point where you question if he wants to play basketball, as he willingly sabotages his ability to do so. There is no rationale to the length and consistency of his unacceptable behaviour. My toddler flails around when he tantrums. He’s also four and is learning on the fly how to regulate his emotions. Green is a grown man who has consistently exhibited childish behaviour. Nothing, thus far, has been a detriment to that. Not losing an NBA championship, not losing money, no losing respect around the league.

He’s a rebel without a cause who impacts winning but showcases insecurity. There’s a difference between an enforcer and a bully. The Warriors don’t need his blunt force on the court, they need his beautiful basketball mind.

Green seems to want to sabotage the team dynamic and stress test how much drama can he get away with.

Green should be remembered as the 35th pick in the draft who became the ultimate small-ball centre and changed the game. Sadly, he’ll be remembered as someone who stubbornly refused to change the sinister side of his play that doesn’t belong in the game.

Green’s career should be an all-time feel-good story. Instead, he’s ending his career in a fashion with his own and opposing fan bases alike disliking him, and his teammates and opposing players alike exasperated by him.

Green clowned Paul Pierce on how his career ended. Now, the shoe is on the other foot and he’s the aging star with no self-assessment.

The most telling part of Green striking Nurkic was that it occurred right in front of the Warriors bench, and the players and coaches had no reaction, pro or con. Nobody is surprised; they are resigned to the fact Draymond is going to be Draymond because we’ve seen this movie before.

Which is why the Warriors organization owns part of the blame.

Coach Steve Kerr post-game said, “We need him. We need Draymond. He knows that. We’ve talked to him,” in his best I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed voice.

Well, as Dr. Phil famously said, “You either teach people to treat you with dignity and respect, or you don't. This means you are partly responsible for the mistreatment that you get at the hands of someone else. You shape others' behavior when you teach them what they can get away with and what they cannot.”

The Warriors have told Green this behaviour is unacceptable, but they’ve taught him that it is. Their words don’t match their actions.

Every time Green has crossed the line, they’ve rewarded him right after.

When he punched Poole, they didn’t have him miss regular season games because they didn’t want him to miss ring night. Think about that. His only punishment was being away from the team during training camp. That sounds like a reward. What did he do with that down time? He made a documentary about the fact he punched a teammate that played on TV on opening night. He didn’t make amends, he made content.

If he had missed opening night, it would be his fault alone. The Warriors continue to shelter him from the weight of his own repercussions. But now the organization is culpable because that lack of action has set in motion a fractured locker room and lost season. Poole was traded in the off-season and once again the organization chose Green when the two had irreconcilable differences.

They’ve always argued Green needs to play with fire and on the edge to be effective. Your best ability is availability and he’s not available for this team. The Warriors just paid him $100 million a few months ago. The Warriors have a $400-million payroll, plus punitive repeater tax, for the foreseeable future. How can you argue they’re getting return on their investment?

Remember, the last time the Warriors did win a title, Green had long cold spells during the NBA Finals and was benched down the stretch. His level of play no longer justifies his level of disruption.

There is no simple resolution. Green has four years left on his contract. But doing the same expecting different results is insanity.

The risk Green presents is no longer worth the reward. In fact, all you’re doing is rewarding bad behaviour.

But it’s not just about his legacy at this point. There is collateral damage.

We are wasting Stephen Curry’s extended prime with WWE heel behavior that every time amounts to conduct detrimental.

Pablo Torre, via his podcast “Pablo Torre finds out,” reported that what set Green off was Poole trash-talking, "You're an expensive backpack for 30," making light of the fact that Curry, No. 30 on the Warriors, is in fact carrying Green.

Well, he is being carried in that no team would put up with this if it wasn’t for a player like Curry wanting Green on the team. At what point is even the monk like Curry fed up as the frustration is building?

Kerr used to described the Warriors' culture with the word “joy.” Does this seem joyful this holiday season? Or, as the kids say, “Is this your king?”

Someone needs to tell Green to check himself before he wrecks himself. Because, in the process, he’s wrecking the entire team and shutting the door on its championship window. The toll isn’t just paid by the Warriors.

This isn’t an easy decision for the NBA. The Warriors are outside of a playoff position. Not ideal for a franchise that is a cash cow, given its popularity in the Far East, its proximity to Silicon Valley and the inflated TV ratings and stadium seat prices that follow Curry’s every move. A competitive Warriors team isn’t just good for owner Joe Lacob, it is good for the entire league, as it single-handedly can lift basketball-related income. Even a diminished Green is the second most valuable player on the team, so him being out indefinitely jeopardizes the business that is Golden State basketball. Yet, the league took the hard stance because hard things are hard.

The tough-love intervention needs to continue with the Golden State franchise, his agency Klutch sports and anyone who cares about the rest of his career.

Hopefully, the league-mandated time away will help Green move from the stage of denial to acceptance.

Thankfully, the NBA league office has decided to be the adult in the room. Time will tell if anyone else, Green included, will follow suit.