Draymond Green

Pacific Notes: Barnes, Booker, Craig, D. Green, Myers

April 22nd, 2023 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

Kings forward Harrison Barnes will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and head coach Mike Brown is among those hoping the 30-year-old doesn’t go anywhere, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.

Brown made it clear that he’ll leave the roster decisions to general manager Monte McNair and assistant GM Wes Wilcox, but made it clear he’d love for the Kings to re-sign Barnes, referring to him as “irreplaceable” and praising his “championship pedigree” and veteran leadership.

“I’m not trying to be funny, but that’s what irreplaceable means. He’s irreplaceable,” Brown said. “Having said that, that’s Monte and Wes’ area. … There’s nobody, at the end of the day, who’s going to be forever and ever in this league and this organization, but HB definitely is a guy who has been a big, big part of what we’ve got going here, and I hope he’s a big, big, big part of what our future looks like.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Devin Booker was an All-Star before the Suns acquired Kevin Durant, but Durant’s arrival has helped Booker take his game to another level, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. “You can’t leave (Durant), obviously. He draws a lot of attention,” Booker said after scoring 45 points in a Game 3 victory on Thursday. “A lot of the buckets I scored, I went right to him right after and said, ‘You opened that up.'”
Reinserted into the Suns‘ starting lineup when the playoffs began in order to match up defensively against Kawhi Leonard, Torrey Craig has had a monster series so far, averaging 18.0 PPG and making 10-of-16 three-pointers (62.5%) through three games. As Doug Haller of The Athletic details, Craig’s performance is all the more impressive given the path he took to get here — he went undrafted in 2014 and spent the first three years of his professional career playing in Australia and New Zealand.
Tim Kawakami of The Athletic explores the bond between Warriors forward Draymond Green and president of basketball operations Bob Myers and muses about what it would mean for the franchise to lose one or both of them as free agents this offseason. Elsewhere at The Athletic, Anthony Slater explores how a big game from veteran center Kevon Looney helped nullify Green’s absence in Game 3.

Warriors Notes: Green, Game 3 Prep, Looney, Role Players

April 20th, 2023 at 9:06pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Warriors have put on a brave public face following the news that forward Draymond Green has been suspended for a game after bruising Kings center Domantas Sabonis‘ sternum late in Golden State’s 114-106 Game 2 loss to Sacramento. However, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN confirms that the team didn’t agree with the ruling. Green was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the contest.

“We are livid,” an anonymous source told Shelburne. “We paid the price already [when Green was ejected] in Game 2. We get that. No problem there. But this suspension was unnecessary.”

Warriors team president Bob Myers, who like Green could become a free agent himself this offseason, spoke to Shelburne about how Green and his occasionally over-the-top passion function within the larger team concept.

“There’s so many positives, but when you play with so much emotion, sometimes it runs over,” Myers told Shelburne. “But for the most part it’s been a tremendous driver of success.”

There’s more out of Golden State:

With Green sitting out tonight for a critical Game 3 in their series against the Kings, Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle believes the situation once again highlights the cold hard reality that it might be easiest to part with him this summer. Thanks to an even more punitive incoming CBA, Golden State may need to move on from at least one of its pricier players. Letourneau writes that the behavior that got Green suspended proved that his ultimate selfishness may just make him the most expendable part of the club’s championship core.
Starting Warriors center Kevon Looney must limit his fouls tonight, now that Green won’t be able to give his team any help as its small ball center, per Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. The 6’9″ big man out of UCLA was whistled for two quick fouls in the first quarter of Golden State’s last game in the series on Monday. “I can’t be out there fouling like I was last game as much, because we don’t have Draymond to back me up,” Looney noted on Wednesday night. “I don’t think my minutes are going to change too much. I just got to go out there and play a little bit smarter.”
Trailing 2-0 in their current series, the Warriors have been hoping that the team’s young role players can help prop up their stars. That hasn’t been the case thus far, argues Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. Specifically, reserve guards Jordan Poole and Donte DiVincenzo and backup swingman Jonathan Kuminga didn’t provide enough of a spark and proved too unreliable for head coach Steve Kerr to give them big minutes in the first two games.

Warriors Reportedly “Shocked,” Angry Over Draymond Green’s Suspension

April 19th, 2023 at 5:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

There was surprise and anger when the Warriors learned about Draymond Green‘s suspension for Game 3 of their playoff series with the Kings, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his latest podcast (hat tip to RealGM).

Green will be forced to sit out Thursday’s game for stepping on Domantas Sabonis while he was lying on the court during the fourth quarter of Game 2. Green was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and was ejected after spending several minutes inciting the Sacramento crowd during a review of the play.

NBA vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars explained on Wednesday that Green’s status as a “repeat offender” factored into the decision to impose a suspension without pay, rather than just a fine. Dumars also cited “excessive and over-the-top actions” and “conduct detrimental (to the league).”

Lowe adds that part of the Warriors’ frustration with the ruling is their feeling that Sabonis has been allowed to be overly physical in the first two games of the series. Golden State players and coaches believe that referees are permitting him to get away with too much, which is why Green reacted in the way that he did.

“There’s a sense in the organization that Sabonis is shoving people on offensive rebounds and playing with his elbows out and using the ball as a weapon on offense,” Lowe said. “So, ‘Of course someone eventually retaliated.’ You can give that any validity you want.”

Speaking today with reporters, coach Steve Kerr admitted being “extremely surprised” by the suspension, tweets Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Green addressed the team during today’s practice, Andrews adds, but Kerr declined to reveal any details (Twitter link).

“There’s no time to spend worrying about it … it doesn’t matter,” Kerr said about the suspension. “We know what the league decided to do and we have to respond accordingly.”

NBA VP Dumars Explains Thinking Behind Draymond Suspension

April 19th, 2023 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After the NBA announced late on Tuesday night that Warriors forward Draymond Green would be suspended for Game 3 against Sacramento for stepping on Domantas Sabonis in Game 2, NBA vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars has done the media rounds on Wednesday to explain the thinking behind the controversial decision.

Speaking to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, Dumars stressed that league officials spent much of Tuesday deliberating their response, noting that it was “not some snap-of-the-finger decision.” In a phone interview with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Dumars said there were three primary factors that went into the ruling to suspend Green for one game.

“Here’s what it came down to: Excessive and over-the-top actions, conduct detrimental (to the league), and a repeat offender,” Dumars said. “That’s what separates this where you end up with a suspension.”

As Dumars notes – and as the NBA mentioned in its initial announcement – the league weighed Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts in its decision. He has racked up 162 career technical fouls, 17 ejections, and now four suspensions, per Wojnarowski. Asked if someone with a cleaner record might have received a lesser punishment, Dumars didn’t offer a definitive answer.

“It may have been, but the act itself still would have been looked at in a serious way — stomping on a guy’s chest,” he told ESPN. “On the back end of this act, you add repeat offender and that’s how you end up getting to a suspension.”

During the moments when the play was being reviewed on the court in the fourth quarter of Monday’s game, Green responded to the vitriol he was receiving from fans in Sacramento by standing on a chair, egging them on, and taunting them back. Although that wasn’t a primary reason for the suspension, Dumars acknowledged to both Reynolds and Wojnarowski that it was a factor, referring to Green’s behavior as “not helpful.”

“The stuff that happened afterward, that doesn’t help the situation,” Dumars told The Associated Press. “But if it was just that alone, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I focused on the act itself, the fact that it’s a repeat offense, those were the two main things.”

Within an hour of the NBA’s announcement on Tuesday night, the Kings made an announcement of their own, issuing a press release to say that Sabonis had been diagnosed with a sternum contusion and would be listed as questionable for Game 3 (Twitter link via Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 Sacramento).

The league was aware of that diagnosis before announcing Green’s suspension, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Sabonis’ injury wasn’t a major factor in the decision, though Dumars did tell Wojnarowski that “you don’t ignore that.”

As for why Sabonis didn’t face any additional penalty of his own for grabbing Green’s leg just before being stepped on, Dumars said the NBA determined that the game’s referees made the correct ruling on the court and felt that no further punishment was warranted for the Kings center.

“Sabonis was penalized in the game with a technical foul and Golden State gets the free throw,” Dumars told ESPN. “It wasn’t like (Sabonis) didn’t get off without any punishment, but we didn’t think that rose to the level of excessive and over-the-top, conduct detrimental and repeat offender. That’s why you separate those two and deal with one act on the court — and then another act.”

Draymond Green Suspended For Game 3

April 18th, 2023 at 10:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Warriors forward Draymond Green has been suspended one game without pay for stepping on the chest of Kings center Domantas Sabonis, according to a league press release (via Twitter). The suspension was based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts, per the NBA.

The incident occurred during the fourth quarter of the Kings’ Game 2 victory on Monday. Sabonis underwent X-rays on his sternum after the game, which came back negative.

Green’s actions were in response to Sabonis grabbing and holding Green’s right ankle after falling to the floor. Green received a Flagrant Foul 2 and was ejected, and Sabonis was assessed a technical foul.

Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reported earlier in the day that a fine was more likely than a suspension for Green, tweets that most people around the Warriors and the situation believed on Tuesday that a fine was coming. However, Green’s history helped convince the NBA to dole out a one-game suspension instead.

The suspension for Thursday’s game makes the Warriors’ task much more difficult as they try to avoid a 3-0 deficit in the series. Jonathan Kuminga and Anthony Lamb figure to play more prominent roles and coach Steve Kerr could also explore smaller lineups.

Sabonis’ X-Rays Negative Following Draymond Stomp, Ejection

April 18th, 2023 at 7:20am CST by Luke Adams

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.

Warriors Notes: Wiggins, Tax Concerns, Green, Curry

April 12th, 2023 at 11:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors haven’t determined when Andrew Wiggins will resume playing, but there’s optimism that he’ll be ready when their playoff series with the Kings begins Saturday, writes C.J. Holmes of The San Francisco Chronicle.

Wiggins has participated in two scrimmages since returning to the team last week, and coach Steve Kerr said he was impressive both times. Kerr added that Wiggins will be watched closely for the rest of the week as team officials try to determine whether he can play in Game 1, if he will start, and what type of minutes restriction he might be under.

“A lot of good, positive signs have come out of this past week, and we’ll just play it by ear as we get ready for Saturday,” Kerr said.

General manager Bob Myers expressed similar sentiments in a radio appearance Wednesday, according to Holmes, and Wiggins’ teammates are getting excited about the prospect of bringing back one of the key pieces of last year’s title team.

“He looked good,” Stephen Curry said of Wiggins’ scrimmage performances. “He, for the most part, played most of the action we had. He really hasn’t lost a step. I know it’s just scrimmaging and getting back into the pace of live basketball, but he looked pretty spry, fresh legs. And hopefully that bodes well for his return this weekend.”

There’s more on the Warriors:

Even though they’re the defending champs, the Warriors may need a long playoff run to keep the core of the team together, states Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. Draymond Green has a $27.6MM player option this summer on the final year of his contract, and Klay Thompson will be eligible for a new extension. Contract extensions for Wiggins and Jordan Poole will kick in next season, and a new CBA contains harsher restrictions for teams that far exceed the luxury tax threshold. Marcus Thompson notes that the team has a projected salary and tax bill for next year that could approach $500MM, which owner Joe Lacob has called untenable.
Green said on the #thisleague UNCUT podcast that he would like to play four more seasons and retire as a Warrior, relays Shayna Rubin of The East Bay Times. “I would love to finish my career here,” he said. “That’s been my goal since signing this current contract that I’m on. It’s looking like a more realistic thing to be finishing here. And I also don’t want to play 20 years in the NBA, I want to play 15 years in the NBA. In four more years, it’s likely I’ll be contributing at a high level and living up to the contract I’ll be on. As far as the probability, I can’t give you that because it isn’t up to me. If it was up to me, I can tell you 100 percent I would finish my career here.”
Curry’s new deal with Under Armour includes shares of the company worth $75MM, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

Warriors’ Steve Kerr Talks GPII, Kuminga, Myers, More

April 2nd, 2023 at 10:58am CST by Luke Adams

Two longtime members of the Warriors organization could become free agents this summer. President of basketball operations Bob Myers is on an expiring contract, while former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green holds a player option for 2023/24.

Despite some uncertainty about whether Myers and Green will still be in Golden State in the fall, head coach Steve Kerr isn’t viewing this season as a “Last Dance” for this version of the Warriors, as he told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic this week on The TK Show, referencing the 1997/98 Bulls team that he played for.

“That was made clear in Chicago (in 1997), that that was going to be it, Phil (Jackson) was done and everybody’s contracts were up. That was going to be it,” Kerr said. “That’s not the case here at all. I know that (Warriors owner) Joe (Lacob) would love to keep this thing going. He’s been incredible in his financial commitment to keep this team strong and relevant for a decade. He’s always committed to that. So I think there’s a really good possibility that we keep things going here.”

As Kawakami points out, the idea of bringing the entire gang back for 2023/24 would presumably look more appealing to Warriors ownership if the team makes another deep playoff run. Golden State’s up-and-down performance this season has created some doubts about the viability of such a run, but Kerr feels like the team has played some of its best basketball of the season as of late, crediting Gary Payton II‘s return and Jonathan Kuminga‘s emergence as a reliable rotation piece as key factors.

“We look more like a two-way basketball team more often now than we did even a few weeks ago,” Kerr told Kawakami. “We’re not there yet, obviously. I mean, we’re not consistent enough. But I think we know we’re capable of getting where we need to be.”

Here are a few more highlights from Kawakami’s conversation with Kerr, which is worth checking out in full if you subscribe to The Athletic:

On whether he’s concerned that Myers won’t be back with the Warriors next season:

“Yeah, for sure. The fact that he doesn’t have a contract, the possibility is there that he won’t be back. I think that’s obvious. I’m not breaking any news. I can tell you without a doubt everybody wants him back.

“Bob is amazing at his job. His job goes so much further than just drafting or signing players or trading for players. It’s the overall management of the organization. The way he helps me navigate the season through his communication with our players is so valuable for me. Bob is a masterful communicator in every direction and he’s a great friend. He and I have so much trust in one another. So I hope he’s back, and I think everybody feels that way, and we’ll see how it plays out.”

On why it has been challenging for young players (like James Wiseman) to crack the Warriors’ rotation on a consistent basis:

“The hard part for any fan or anybody to realize is just how much knowledge and wisdom you need in this league to really impact winning. I remember early in the season I had dinner with Steph (Curry) and Draymond on the road and I asked them each how long it took them early in their NBA careers to feel like they could directly impact winning. Draymond said three years, Steph said four. And Draymond played four years at Michigan State. Steph played three at Davidson.

“So for each of them, they were talking about seven seasons after they left high school was when they could impact winning in the NBA. You’re talking about Hall of Fame players. So when we get 19-year-old guys like Kuminga or (Moses) Moody or Wiseman, who are really gifted, it’s just not going to click right away. … There are exceptions. But the rule is generally young players have a long way to go to really figure out how to win and to absorb everything you need to know to play at this level.”

On whether the Warriors are capable of winning a title if Andrew Wiggins doesn’t return from his personal absence for the postseason:

“I think so; I really believe in this team. I think the fact that we traded for Gary and the way that JK has stepped up in Wigs’ absence. If you look at last year’s team, we had the two on-ball defenders in Wigs and Gary. And you plug JK into that Wigs spot now. It’s not as seamless as it was a year ago because we had a whole season together and we had all that rhythm and continuity, but I do feel good about our chances just with the talent that we have and the experience that we have.”

Latest On New Collective Bargaining Agreement

April 1st, 2023 at 7:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

We learned overnight that the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement will introduce a second tax apron that imposes more severe restrictions on the league’s highest-spending teams. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski explains (via Twitter) what some of those restrictions will be.

Teams that exceed the second apron won’t be permitted to send out cash in deals, trade away first-round picks seven years in the future or sign players who become free agents in the buyout market, sources tell Wojnarowski. The new apron will reportedly be set $17.5MM above the luxury tax line, and ESPN reported earlier that teams in that category will also lose their mid-level exception in free agency.

Teams exceeding the second apron will also be prohibited from taking back more salary than they send out in a trade, sources tell Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link).

Bobby Marks of ESPN points to the Suns’ acquisition of Kevin Durant in February and the Nets’ trade for James Harden in 2021 as deals that would likely have needed to be altered if the new rules were in place at the time they were made (Twitter link).

There’s more on the new CBA agreement:

Positions will no longer be taken into consideration in voting for All-NBA teams, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Under the current rules, voters must pick two guards, two forwards and a center for each of the three teams. Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid were the top vote-getters in the MVP race last year, but because they both play center, Embiid had to settle for second-team All-NBA honors.
Draymond Green isn’t a supporter of the new agreement, claiming the union didn’t get enough in negotiations. “Players lose again…. Smh! Middle and Lower spectrum teams don’t spend because they don’t want to,” he tweeted. “They want to lose. So increase their spending capabilities, just to increase them. They continue to cut out the middle. And this is what we rushed into a deal for? Smdh! Never fails.” In an exchange with fans, Green pointed out that the Warriors sold for $500MM shortly before he arrived and claimed that the team is now worth $8 billion. “Never seen someone go to a table with the assets that makes an entire machine go, and lose EVERY time! Blasphemous,” Green added.
The one-and-done rule that prevents players from entering the NBA draft directly out of high school remains in place, but Devin Booker believes it will eventually be changed, writes Dana Scott of The Arizona Republic. “I think most kids are still finding their way out or they’re not even going to college and their spending a year removed training somewhere at a prep school or something of that such,” Booker said. “So with the NIL, I think that’s a step forward. Those players are able to get paid now off their name and likeness, so that’s really important. But we’ll see. I think it will eventually get back to no college.”

Warriors Notes: Green, Myers, Rotation, Wiggins

March 29th, 2023 at 7:54am CST by Luke Adams

Warriors forward Draymond Green received his 17th technical foul of the season on Tuesday vs. New Orleans, meaning he’ll be subject to another automatic one-game suspension if it’s not rescinded and he earns one more technical before the team’s finale on April 9.

While he believes Tuesday’s tech should be rescinded, Green also expressed no regrets about the confrontation with Brandon Ingram that led to it (Twitter video link), referring to it as a spark for the team, as Kendra Andrews of ESPN writes. At the time that Ingram and Green were assessed double T’s in the second quarter, the Warriors trailed by nine points. They eventually won by 11.

“It was perfect. Perfectly executed,” Green said. “We looked dead those first 18 minutes. We had to find some energy somewhere. It wasn’t just going to come, especially after losing the game like we did last game; that can carry over. I felt like it did. I knew we had to do something and do it fast before the game got out of hand.”

Head coach Steve Kerr didn’t disagree with Green’s assessment, crediting the veteran’s energy for keying the comeback win.

“Draymond willed us to victory tonight,” Kerr told reporters. “Just the intensity, the frustration early with the way we were playing. Mad at the world, yelling at everybody — their bench, our bench, me — and frankly, we deserved it.”

Here’s more on the Warriors:

Green and Stephen Curry, who have heaped praise on Bob Myers in the past, once again expressed admiration for the Warriors’ president of basketball operations on Tuesday after Myers helped calm Green down after he received his fifth personal foul in the fourth quarter (Twitter video link). “Y’all don’t always get to see Bob’s work, other than putting the team together. But he’s so important to everything that we do,” Green said, per Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. “… GMs don’t keep a pulse on the team like Bob keeps a pulse of this team. Maybe two other GMs in the league right there would come down to the bench and say something. And that’s also someone who I have the utmost respect for. If Bob comes and tells me something, that’s Bible to me. I’m going to listen to that.”
Gary Payton II‘s return to action this week has rotation ramifications for the Warriors, observes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Moses Moody will likely be one player affected — he logged just three total minutes in Payton’s first two games back. Anthony Lamb, Donte DiVincenzo, and Jonathan Kuminga are among the other players whose minutes could dip slightly with Payton back, Slater adds.
Andrew Wiggins remains away from the Warriors, having missed a 20th straight game on Tuesday as he deals with a personal matter. However, the idea of ruling him out for the rest of the season “hasn’t been discussed,” Kerr said on Tuesday (all Twitter links via Slater). Kerr, who expressed hope that Wiggins will return this spring, also noted that the veteran forward has been working out every day during his absence.

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