Draymond Green doesn’t regret choking Rudy Gobert and says punishment was unfair

It seems as if Draymond Green gets in trouble at least once per season, and this one has barely started and and he’s already endured a five-game suspension after unnecessarily putting rival Rudy Gobert to a chokehold on November 14. As the player is eligible to return on Tuesday against the Kings, he finally attended the press after the on-court incident. 

According to the Golden State forward, he doesn’t regret his actions against the Minnesota player and didn’t offer a single apology when speaking to the media. As the league announced his punishment by calling out his “history of unsportsmanlike acts,” Green believes that was unfair.

“To continue saying, ‘Oh, what he did in the past,’ I paid for those [incidents],” Draymond said. “I got suspended for Game 5 of the [2016] Finals. So you can’t keep suspending me for those actions.

Draymond Green goes silent for the first time when asked about Rudy Gobert's comments: pic.twitter.com/o28XjkHRdZ

— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) November 27, 2023

“They’ve made it clear that they are going to hold everything against me that I’ve done before,” he added. “That’s OK. I need to adjust where I see fit. Where my teammates see fit, where my coaches see fit, front office sees fit.”

The four-time champion takes pride in what he considers being a good teammate, and basically used this as a justification to cover for all his actions on November 14. “Anytime there is a situation and a teammate needs you to come to his defense, I’m going to come to their defense. Especially with someone [Klay Thompson] I’ve been a teammate with for 12 years,” said the 33-year-old.

“… I am always going to be there for my teammates,” Green continued. “That’s who I am. That’s who I am as a teammate, that’s who I am as a friend. … Right, wrong or indifferent, look to your side and I’ll be there — or even in front of you.”

Probably the only mature thing that came out of his mouth was saying he could’ve reacted better. “The consensus amongst all of us is that I’m going to be me no matter what. That’s not going to change,” Draymond revealed. “But in saying that, there’s always a better way that something can be done. So it’s figuring out a better way. That’s the consensus among all of us.”

Everyone around Green has admitted he acted poorly against the Timberwolves big man, except for him

His coach, teammates, fans and analysts have all went out to criticize the Warriors star for holding Gobert to a headlock for over 10 seconds. Even Saturday Night Live made a skit mocking the player’s lack of accountability.

However, it seems Draymond still isn’t seeing the big picture. “Draymond has to find a way to not cross the line. I’m not talking about getting an ejection or getting a technical. I’m talking about a physical act of violence. That’s inexcusable,” Steve Kerr acknowledged.

Even though his own coach recognized his player’s action cannot be excused, he did say that he understands why he wanted to pull off the French center away from Klay Thompson.

“I didn’t have a problem with [Green] getting Rudy off of Klay, because the rule of thumb is you don’t put your hands on a player on the other team,” he explained. “You get your own guy. So I thought Rudy was wrong for putting his arms on Klay, regardless of his intentions. So I had no problem with Draymond getting him off of him.”