Golden State Warrior Draymond Green has been “suspended indefinitely,” the NBA announced on Dec. 13.
The news comes a day after the power forward was ejected for a flagrant foul during the second half of the game between the Warriors and the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center in Arizona. In the third quarter of the Dec. 12 game, Green struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face.
“This outcome takes into account Green’s repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts,” Joe Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president in charge of basketball operations, said in the statement on Wednesday. “The incident occurred with 8:23 remaining in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 119-116 loss to the Suns on Dec. 12 at Footprint Center. Green received a Flagrant Foul 2 and was ejected.”
Dumars’ note stated that Green’s suspension will begin immediately and he will be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play.
The Warriors lost 119-116 to the Suns. Tuesday’s ejection marks the 33-year-old’s 18th ejection from a game, NBC Sports reports.
“He was pulling my hip and I was swinging away to sell the call,” Green said, per the outlet after the game. “I made contact with him. As you know, I’m not one to apologize for things I meant to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf, because I didn’t intend to hit him.”
It has been less than a month since Green, a four-time All-Star, was suspended five games by the league for putting Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert into a headlock during a November altercation, the outlet reports.
Additionally, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, per NBC Sports, “We need him, we need Draymond. He knows that, we’ve talked to him. He’s got to find a way to keep his poise and be out there for his teammates.”
As for Nurkić, the athlete said he didn't know what was going on with Green, saying per the outlet, “Personally, I feel like that brother needs help ... That had nothing to do with basketball. I’m just out there trying to play basketball.”
Among Green's previous ejections include an April incident where he appeared to stomp on Sacramento Kings' Domantas Sabonis' chest and a 2016 incident where he was fined $25,000 for kicking then-Oklahoma City's Steven Adams in the groin.