Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green has been “suspended indefinitely” following his clash with Phoenix player Jusuf Nurkic that saw him ejected for the third time this season, the NBA said Wednesday.
The NBA said in a statement that Green had been handed an open-ended ban given his “repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.”
Green was tossed from the Warriors’ 119-116 road defeat against Phoenix on Tuesday after hitting Suns player Jusuf Nurkic in the head to earn a flagrant foul.
The four-time NBA champion later apologised to Nurkic, saying he had accidentally struck the Bosnian after swinging his arm to try and win a foul call, believing he had been illegally held back.
“I thought he was pulling my hip, and I was swinging a way to sell the call, and made contact with him,” Green said. “As you know, I’m not one to apologise for things I meant to do, but I do apologise to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him.”
Nurkic however was scathing of the incident, saying Green “needs help.”
“What’s going on with him? I don’t know,” Nurkic said afterwards. “Personally, I feel like that brother needs help.”
The flashpoint came just weeks after Green was issued a five-game suspension for his second ejection of the season, when he grabbed Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert in a headlock during the Warriors’ defeat to the Timberwolves on November 14.
Green’s second suspension of the season is the latest in a long line of brushes with NBA disciplinary chiefs over the years.
The 33-year-old, who was also ejected in the Warriors’ defeat to Cleveland earlier in November, was also suspended during the playoffs in April after stamping on Sacramento Kings player Domantas Sabonis.
That followed an ejection in Golden State’s 2021-2022 playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies after a clash with Brandon Clarke.
He was also infamously suspended for game five of the 2016 NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers for a low blow against LeBron James.
The flagrant foul led to a one-game ban and Cleveland, down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, won at Golden State on the way to capturing the crown in seven games.
