With just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 2 in the Kings/Warriors series on Monday, Draymond Green was assessed with a flagrant foul 2 and was ejected from the game for stomping on Domantas Sabonis‘ chest after the two players got tangled up following a missed Sacramento shot (NBA.com video link).
Sabonis fell to the ground while battling for rebounding position and appeared to grab Green’s leg as he went down. The Kings center was given a technical foul for the play, but remained in the game, which Sacramento won to take a 2-0 series lead.
Sabonis underwent X-rays on his sternum after the game, which came back negative, so he appears to have avoided any major injuries, though he’ll undergo more tests on Tuesday as a precaution, according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews and Adrian Wojnarowski.
“When I fell, I was protecting myself, and then the incident happened,” Sabonis said. “There is no room for that in our game today.”
For his part, Green told reporters that having his leg held by Sabonis made it impossible not to come down on the Kings All-Star.
“My leg got grabbed — the second time in two nights — and the referee is just watching,” Green said, per ESPN. “I got to land my foot somewhere, and I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far. … I can only step so far with someone pulling my leg away … I guess ankle grabbing is OK.”
A source tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link) that Green also requested an X-ray after Game 2 after feeling soreness in his right ankle.
According to Spears, Green believes he hurt his ankle when he got grabbed by Sabonis, though he showed no ill effects in the immediate aftermath of the play as he stood on a chair while the call was being reviewed and egged on Kings fans, who were chanting “Draymond sucks” (Twitter video link via Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 Sacramento).
The NBA figures to take a closer look at the fourth-quarter sequence to determine whether any additional punishment – such as a fine or suspension – is warranted. Kings coach Mike Brown said on Monday night that he was “curious” about the outcome of that review, as Andrews notes in ESPN’s story.
The NBA will take the high road here. No suspensions. They’ll consider the leg grab larger and having more impact than it really did.
If the Warriors get bounced here or the next round, you can kiss Draymond Green goodbye. Four championships, thank you very much, good luck. Some team out there will overpay over three years for a guy with an edge. Maybe a team on the verge of getting there and needs some post defense and crotch kicking lol.
Draymond has a player option though
Good point but I think he definitely opts out to get a 3-year deal. That’ll be tougher to secure the following summer being one year older in my opinion.
Luckily Kuminga is just Draymond with better everything and will immediately replace him.
It’s kinda of crazy how wrong that take is
Kind of*
Kuminga is crazy good – yes. Watch some games. Just needs minutes which Kerr stupidly won’t give him because he only wants to win with 3 guards, so Kuminga loses minutes to lesser talents.
He makes a rookie mistake every 30sec your so smoked! Maybe in 5 years hater!
Draymond will get his contract. He has the hometown Detroit Pistons in his back pocket. They have cap space and need to add some veteran “leadership”. Draymond will be a Piston.
Terrible, makes the entire league look bad-must be suspended.
Sabonis should be suspended too. End of game 1 he did the same thing when he grabbed Green and did a WWE move then pretended he was hurt.
100% this is all Sabonis’s fault and he deserves to be suspended. Its not HIS first time doing stuff like this either…
Shocking that Warriors fans are trying to equate grabbing someone’s ankle to stomping on a guy. This is on Draymond and his temper.
let me fix that for you stomp once not stomping a bunch of times. Second grabbing a guy’s leg for no reason when he is running is a dirty play. You could injure somebody doing that. That was a grab to take down Green.
He didnt stomp he was pulled down. I mean sure it looks all WWE at 1/15th speed, but watch it close to real time speed and he gets pulled starts to fall and steps hard down while being pulled.
I love Draymonds intensity, defensive and playmaking skills but this was too much. League should suspend him for game 3, but they won’t….
Absolutely no one should buy Green’s explanation. He moved his foot directly over Sabonis before stomping down. I’ve got a black belt in taekwondo. I know how people instinctively react to grabs and unexpected force. How Green reacted fits none of that; his foot was basically free of Sabonis’ hands before he stomped. His balance was not disrupted. His body weight was as evenly distributed as possible. All he had to do is lower his leg and he would have been fine. His explanation is a transparent lie.
And yes, Sabonis should not have grabbed him. Nobody is questioning that. But Green overreacted like a Karen asking to speak to a manager.
Yes you’re absolutely right. You’ve provided a good explanation proving he knew exactly what he was doing. Draymond Green is compulsive and violent. His brain is now wired to do these things because the league has let him do it over and over again. As far as I’m concerned it’s cheating – game tactics that you couldn’t even get away with in MMA – eye gouging, kicks to the groin, and now stomping the chest – always to key players – cheat to win, win at any cost. He could have stomped on his throat…is that what the league is waiting for, something that injures a player for life? Draymond is very intentional – he knew what he was doing earlier in the game when he “accidentally” backed into Sabonis and knocked him down. And why does Draymond get away with constantly yelling at referees? It’s a double standard that makes the league look like a joke.
Give me a break dude, they lost a championship because he got baited by lebron in the same kind of situation and was suspended for a game during the finals. Don’t tell me the league let’s him get away with anything.
And you really need to check the definition of cheating if you think reacting to someone grabbing you is somehow cheating…that’s just patently stupid and ridiculous.
Sabonis tryin to bring soccer style acting to the NBA with that unnecessary crying and wailing on the ground like a freakin baby was absolutely pathetic. He’s just as bad as Dray, but Dray doesn’t play-act that he’s hurt just to get a call or set someone up with the intention of getting them out of the game, so worse actually.
I really can’t believe everyone is so ready to crucify Dray, but the whole situation was such an obvious hit job by Sabonis to get him kicked out of the game. But that’s fine, huh?
If anything, Draymond needs to grow up and stop letting dirty players get under his skin and stop reacting to their dirty plays with anger and frustration.
Oh and if you want a double standard by the refs that’s a joke, look at how few free throws the warriors get a game compared to their competition over the last decade, it’s a f’n travesty.
@EonADS I agree with this mostly, but Sabonis is 100% to blame here.
No one is ever “100%” to blame for another person’s actions. Green should have been the bigger person and disengaged. He not only retaliated, he escalated. He holds a much larger percentage of the blame here.
If Sabonis doesnt poke the bear, this doesnt happen.
Also Draymond didnt “stomp” him, if he did, Sabonis would be in hospital right now. That “stomping” word isnt facts, it was more like “Draymonds leg landed on him”.
As I said, Sabonis wasn’t innocent here. Green is just worse.
Also, “nobody was hurt, so it’s fine” is a very weird take. So if I take a swing at you with the intent to harm and miss, it’s fine? No. No it’s not. Stop with the false equivalency.
“Poke the bear”?? Like Draymond is some kind of wild and violent animal that should be allowed to run around and attempt to injure whenever and however he wants? You’re completely dillusional. You could put a highlight pack of dirty plays by Draymond in last year’s finals against Celtic players and you think it’s okay to attempt to intimidate and injure? What he did to Jokic in last year’s series was sickening – search it up if you don’t remember – his hand in the shape of a hook as he swatted at Jokic’s eyes, nowhere near the ball and he got away with it. It’s pathetic cheating – GSW cheated their way to last year’s championship. The most pathetic team in the history of the league – they’ve gone way past the 1980s Pistons in that category.
Grab my leg in a basketball game see if my shoe doesnt land on you most of the time. Watch it in real time not slo mo before you act a fool.
I’ll be sure to watch your highlights big guy. Sit the hell down lol
Look up the definition of cheating guy…and by the looks of things a few hundred or thousand other words, cuz you don’t know what you’re talking about
Black belt in taekwondo lol…”I’m an expert on falling.” Someone grabbed his foot and he lost balance. He didn’t have room to step anywhere else without falling so he stepped on the spawn of Arvydas. Maybe he stepped a little harder out of frustration. But Baby Arvydas is the root of the stomp.
The stomp was disgraceful and could have injured Sabonis. It is unacceptable, even if Sabonis initiated the incident. On top of that, Green confronted the fans making obscene gestures (with Adam Silver on the stands!). It should be a one-game suspension, especially given Green’s track record.
What is devastating is later today on some elementary school playground children will play basketball and one student won’t get his way.
So he will punch and kick his teammates then pull up a tok tok of Green doing the same thing and getting paid for it.
The influence on our children (i.e. the future) cannot be overlooked or understated.
I believe that children are our future.
We should teach them well and let them lead the way.
It always makes me laugh when people are like “kids never behaved this way before the tock-took-tick”. Like, bruh, kids have been beating each other up for stupid stuff for as long as they’ve had hands. We just see it more because social media records it from all over the world. Everybody has a camera as long as they have a cell phone.
@EonADS – another great take. You know ball, you know life, wish we had more good faith posters like you and less bad faith posters like Lil D.
This is a lazy take. Yes the results are amplified but so is the input. How many school shootings were there in the pre-internet/social media days. Or you think there just wasn’t anyone there to videotape
It’s a toxic part of American culture and folks like Draymond unfortunately end up contributing more to the negative side, even though I’m sure he has some good in his heart too. Just impulsive and unfortunately he needs to know better.
School shootings are an entirely different beast thanks to the availability of guns being much greater now than they ever were, and mass shootings in general started getting out of hand in the 80’s, before the rise of social media. You have a point that there’s more input, but there’s also more counter-input. However, a basketball forum isn’t the place to discuss that, so I’m going to leave it there.
Naturally, I want to disagree with you Micro D, but today I’m feeling small if you know what I meant. Still, a dirty play from Sabonis who’s playing the soft white American-Euro stereotype very well as the Kings lead the series.
Do you think children are just mindless sponges that wait around until somebody influences them to do exactly what they do?
Kind of insane how you’re fake pretending to be a good guy saying you’re worried “about the kids” when in reality you don’t even view these children as humans.
Lil DMV:
But Sabonis instigating the whole thing and having a history as a dirty player has no effect on kids at all huh? Convenient!
Just throw a tantrum on the ground and everyone will blame the mean man, whaa whaaa!!!
Give me a f’n break!!!
None of this would have happened without Sabonis being dirty…
Oh and EVER HEARD OF MMA!!? Talk about where kids go to see people make $ for literally hurting others!? The NFL? No? Never heard of these things?
But Draymond getting his leg pulled and then coming down on the guy with said leg is what every bully and school shooter from now till eternity will point to to justify their actions? Riiiiiight…
And just because I’m sure you didn’t see it, research has shown that despite school shootings becoming more frequent because of the prevalence of guns, schools are safer than they’ve been in decades (by 50-75%).
Use your brain
Sabonis Tried to injure Green first and we all know Sabonis was flopping on the ground. Sabonis will do anything to win even cheat. If green is suspended they need to suspend Sabonis too. You shouldn’t reward players for flopping and starting fights.
LMAO your take is hilariously stupid.
So why does every NBA player not on the Kings is calling out Sabonis for a dirty play?
I’d love for you to explain yourself, how is that take stupid and not yours?
Sabonis instigated the incident and then flopped around like a crying baby sturgeon for ten minutes after having the bottom of Green’s shoe touch him (yes, flopping seems to be the real Euro-step)… “stomp” is a bit of an overstatement.
But if one doesn’t want to be “stomped” on, perhaps one shouldn’t grab another persons leg as they try to walk away?
No? The obvious is too much for ya? Which makes it all about Draymond? Convenient!
Green will be suspended for game 3, if only because this is not an isolated incident. He’s been suspended for dirty actions like this on multiple occasions, including in previous playoff runs. If this was his first incident, he may have avoided it, but it’s a pattern with him.
Absolutely no he won’t.
#1, they’ll consider the leg grab. #2, sabonis was able to continue playing. #3, there was no damage after x-rays. No suspension.
Absolutely not condoning the ACT, I’m as tired of Green’s crap as anyone, but that’s how they’ll rule it.., especially with the Kings up 2-0.
I’ll be so bold as to say that if it was 1-1 then they may think otherwise and suspend Green. Down 2-0 and what I said above means no suspension.
In the last 2 minute report from game 1 it said that when Sabonis pulled Green down it should have been ONLY a foul on Sabonis not a double foul. If you watch the fall Sabonis was flopping even before Green’s foot was grabbed. He was rolling on the ground than grabbed Green’s foot. If they suspend Green they should suspend Sabonis too.
Gary, you know ball my friend. If GSW wins that game, Dray is absolutely getting suspended. Weird how its all NBA players defending him and only the nerds in the peanut gallery saying he deserves a suspension or even worse, like how “kids look up to him” or some lies.
Yes it is funny how all the NBA players are calling out Sabonis.
What is it like living in fantasy land?
Did someone fart?
Absolutely pathetic play by Sabonis, BUT Draymond with his superior on court IQ should have been smarter in the moment.
If anything Sabonis should get suspended for grabbing legs.
GSW still hasnt lost more than 3 games!! lol might not get out of that hot take alive….
Anyone watching the play Sabonis was baiting Green into the foul. If Sabonis was hurt as much as he claims he wouldn’t have been in the game immediately afterwards running up an down the court.
Yeah, Sabonis was “asking for it” just by dressing that way. These takes are sickening.
Watch the video of the play. When he first went down he was faking he was hurt then he grabs Green leg and twist the ankle. He was trying to get Green to foul out. That was 100% a flop by Sabonis in the way he acted on the ground.
Okay so if someone tries to make you foul out you stomp on their chest which can kill someone? It happens in contact sports all the time. It’s an extremely dangerous place to hit someone. Whatever though you can’t be objective because it’s your favorite group of guys so not worth arguing even though I’m right.
People become so blinded by tribalism they fail to see humanity. *tears*
When did you become a drama queen or are you mocking Sabonis for acting like one last night. If Green stomp was that hard it would have broken ribs easily and Sabois would never went back into the game. Just like most NBA players they are calling out Sabonis. If you suspend Green Sabonis should be suspended too for trying to injure a player.
Yes lil dmv, if you start a fight, you deserve the consequences.
I know people don’t like cause and effect logic anymore, but Sabonis threw the first punch in this fight and couldn’t handle the response.
Only since trump have I seen instigating not matter anymore, just how others react to what’s been instigated. It’s disgusting and dangerous and seriously just crazy.
Ever hear of Hamarobbies code? An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Tripping someone does not mean you should try to be killed. Disgusting.
“Hamarobbies code”
Hooked on Phonics didn’t work for me either bro.
Look at mister perfect over here!
Pretty sure he’s talking about that Disney village.
“I guess ankle grabbing is okay.” is an ignorant comment of course as Sabonis got a technical foul for doing it. Sabonis is probably the bigger offender here, but gee whiz Mr. Green, you come out looking like a child with your puerile comment.
Huge fan of Sabonis and I think Draymond is a clown. But wtf Sabonis doing trying to leg lock Draymond. Sure Draymond reaction was a little excessive, but fact is no leg grab means no foot stomp.
Sabonis is a cheat and a flopper. Sabonis was baiting Green into his 6th foul to foul him out. The previous game he did the same thing and got a double foul called. You win on the court not playing lawyer ball with the Refs.
This is a rich take from someone defending *Draymond Green*. Sabonis isn’t innocent here, but it’s not like he stomped on his own chest. As the old saying goes “it takes two to tango”.
suspend both if you are going to suspend players. A flopper shouldn’t be rewarded for starting a fight.
Sabonis got a tech, which he deserved. Green, however, escalated when he was totally in the clear. That’s why he deserves a suspension. I like Draymond Green, despite not being a Warriors fan. But this is too far. He needs to miss at least one game for that crap. It’s very easy to seriously hurt someone that way, and unlike the ankle grab during a fall, you can’t say the stomp was anything *but* intentional.
“Stomped his chest” sure is getting a lot of mileage when Sabonis wasn’t even hurt from it. More like “Draymond’s leg landed on Sabonis, who was deliberately trying to injure him”.
“Deliberately trying to injure him” is an interesting way to phrase what Sabonis did too. And if his leg “landed on Sabonis”, he wouldn’t have had to actively position his leg over Sabonis’ chest first. Which he did. We get it, you’re a Warriors fan wearing rose glasses. Get over it. Draymond is in the wrong here as much or more than Sabonis. The respective calls reflect that. Stop acting like he’s an innocent victim for escalating a potentially dangerous situation.
Steph is the first person who would run crying to the police if someone took a swing at him even if they missed or barely connected and he wasn’t hurt.
The way the kings players are getting away with holding Curry he should be taking a swing. Don’t bash me that is what the writers are saying about the non calls on the holds.
Lmfao simp harder
THANK YOU FOR YOUR REALISTIC TAKE ON THIS INCIDENT KURTIS BLOW!
Sincerely, I don’t understand why it’s so hard to understand this.
Agreed, Kurtis. I can’t stand Draymond, but Sabonis isn’t without blame here. He tried to play Draymond’s game, and he came out on the short end.
I’m sure both guys will be warned they’re on thin ice, but I can’t see the league suspending anyone. Nor should they, in my opinion. I’ve always felt when two players both play a part like that, you let it go with just the foul unless someone gets injured. And if someone gets injured, the other guy should be suspended for the duration of the injury.
An X-ray!!!? This reeks of WWE. Next Sabonis will have his head wrapped up in a band. This is ridiculous.
Sabonis was already flopping on the ground even before the stomp. He wins a emmy for that acting.
What does Draymond win for screaming at the scrowd and holding his hand to his ear like Hulk Hogan?
Mockig them back when they were chanting F Green
I agree. Dray getting an X-ray for having his ankle grabbed is some serious WWE crap.
he only did that because Sabonis gets a xray when he was dunking 2 minutes after on the ground. Its all for show from both of them
Draymond is a thug
Sabonis is a cheater and drama quenn.
How is he a cheater? Is fouling someone cheating? If so there are a lot of cheaters in the NBA and across all levels of basketball.
At first take and watching the “incident” I felt Green getting suspended was warranted. After looking at it again at different angles I now think just the ejection is fine and perhaps maybe a hefty fine.
Green let his emotions get the best of him. When Sabonis grabbed his legs he could have easily brought attention to the incident by exaggerating his own movements and perhaps gotten Sabonis ejected. Instead he lost his cool and made an exaggerated stomp leaving the ref no choice but to whistle him for a flagrant 2 thereby getting himself ejected.
Draymond’s a seasoned vet with a history and he’s earned his reputation. From using Lebron’s nuts as a speed bag to giving Steven Adams several reasons to kick the ever living crap out of him. He knows the refs watch him with a higher level of scrutiny. He also knows the Kings are going to try to bait him and he fell for the trap.
Sabonis was baiting him knowing Green already had 5 fouls. Problem is Green took the bait when he should had flop on the ground.
Since when are you not allowed to bait guys? That’s the whole point. If you fall for it you lose.
He was baiting contact, not a potentially career and maybe even life-ending stomp to the chest cavity. Ya know, the same place they deliver CPR to start up your heart. Extremely dangerous play.
You’re allowed to bait opposing players and Draymond has a target on his back. I’m not fan of Green nor am I defending him. He’s a dirty player.
I never said it wasn’t a dangerous play however no one was hurt, hence a hefty fine is all that’s warranted.
I was mainly replying to arc who doesn’t seem to get it.
That said a fine is not enough. Either the league takes it seriously now or it happens again, and maybe worse as Green tests the limits and escalates. Suspension and/or criminal charges before this gets more out of hand.
First he kicks Herb Jones. Now he stomps Sabonis. What is to stop him from killing someone?
I am laughing at your hate for the warriors. If Green wanted to break Sabonis ribs he could easily have done that. I say suspend both of them because neither team should have a advantage since both player did wrong. But you hatred for warriors shines right through
or just suspend neither
Its playoffs baby time to toughen up
The dude held Draymonds foot and Dray walked on him to avoid tripping over him. Then Sabonis put on some Lebron acting and made it look like Rickey getting shot in Boyz N The Hood
Funny comments. They think the stomp is fake. You can easily see Draymond put all his weight to Sabonis stomach. -_-
Watch the slow mo….
link to twitter.com
Just a bunch of casuals who hate Draymond, complaining… yawn
Yet you felt the need to come here and comment lol 2 words Rent free
Green should shush. He wasn’t the instigator on the play in question and leave it at that. He’s not entitled to retribution (either in the NBA or on the street), but if he said he was extracting some at least that’s a coherent argument. Arguing what he did was unavoidable is silly. He didn’t just pull his leg away from Sabonis’ hold, or just put his foot down on Sabonis’ chest. He drove his foot into his chest behind his body weight. That’s not a move to achieve balance.
They both in the wrong
LIGHT THE BEAM
Not a Dray fan but he didn’t even deserve the Tech2 imo
I actually have a bigger problem with him hyping the crowd up after more than I did the mini stomp. All the momentum GSW had was sucked out the arena once Dray climbed up on the chair
Definitely he deserved it. If he just flopped and fell, Sabonis will be the one with the Tech2. But you can easily see he saw Sabonis, and put all his weight to that stomp.
link to twitter.com
Draymond Green is the dirtiest basketball player. Thats why the NBA had enough.
Watch how he almost ended Kahwi career. Blinded Kobe,Lebron,Jokic,and Harden.
He also grabbed the thigh and leg of AD. Now Baby Green complains?
link to youtu.be