A complete guide to all of Draymond Green’s suspensions

With Draymond Green’s latest suspension now official (a five-game sentence for putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock), we think it’s time to revisit all the other non-injury-related incidents that have caused Green to miss games over the years. As you probably guessed, this isn’t the first time Green has been suspended by the league. So, without further ado, here is a timeline of all of Green’s suspensions.

Game 5 Of The 2016 Finals

Interestingly enough, Green wasn’t suspended by the NBA until his fourth season in the league. Unfortunately for the Golden State Warriors, he picked an awful time to tally his first one.

Toward the end of Game 4 (one the Warriors would ultimately win), Green and LeBron James got tangled up, and Green decided it would be a good idea to gift The King with a love tap on the groin.

Green was then suspended for Game 5. The Warriors were up 3-1 on the Cleveland Cavaliers and could have put them away in that game. Instead, they lost, and James orchestrated one of the greatest series comebacks in NBA history.

It looks like Omar Little was right when he said, “You come at The King, you best not miss.”

Arguing With His Own Teammate

Green managed to stay out of serious trouble for nearly three years after that incident, opting to instead focus his attention on earning two more championship rings. However, old habits die hard, and Green was bound to have a relapse.

And that’s exactly what went down when he and his then-teammate Kevin Durant got into a screaming match at the regulation in a regular season game against the Los Angeles Clippers. After the game, the team decided to suspend Green for one game for “conduct detrimental to the team.”

To be fair, Green wasn’t wrong about what he was saying. He was accusing Durant of having one foot out the door in anticipation of his impending free agency following the 2018-19 season, and what do you know, Durant actually ended up leaving!

Punching A Teammate

This one didn’t actually lead to a suspension. Green was just fined by the team. But there was no way we could make a timeline of Green’s blunders without mentioning the fact that he leveled his teammate Jordan Poole during practice right before the start of the 2022-23 season.

TMZ obtained the video of the altercation between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole at practice https://t.co/55rMnBqAVG pic.twitter.com/k02BGsBo8G

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) October 7, 2022

It’s safe to say that Green was not invited to any more Poole Parties after that haymaker.

Too Many Technical Fouls

After Rasheed Wallace picked up 41 technical fouls in 80 games during the 2000-01 season, the NBA decided to enact technical foul checkpoints where players would be suspended for one game (without pay) upon reaching one of those thresholds.

One of those checkpoints comes in when a player picks up their 16th technical foul of the season. And that is exactly what Green did during a March 15th regular season game against the Clippers. Because of this, Green was absent for the team’s next game on March 17th against the Atlanta Hawks (a game they ended up losing by eight).

Stepping On Sabonis

Man, 2022-23 was a rough year for Green. He got the fine. He got the technical foul suspension. And to top it all off, he was forced to miss Game 3 of the Warriors’ first-round series against the Sacramento Kings after stomping on Domantas Sabonis in the fourth quarter of Game 2.

Draymond Green steps on Domantas Sabonis 🙏

Kings-Warriors pic.twitter.com/cnTal3xl2w

— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) April 18, 2023

His suspension almost turned into a repeat of the Cleveland one (in that it almost cost his team a playoff series). The Warriors were down 2-0 heading into Game 3, and a loss would have all but ended the series. However, the Warriors rallied without Green, winning Game 3, and then winning three of the final four games in the series once Green returned.

Oh, yeah, and then there’s his most recent five-game suspension (the longest one Green has ever had, by the way).