Draymond suspended “indefinitely”; the future of the Big 3 Era in question

All things must pass

Draymond suspended “indefinitely”

ESPN reported:

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has been suspended indefinitely by the NBA for striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face during Tuesday night's game, the league announced Wednesday.

Green received a flagrant foul 2 for striking Nurkić and was subsequently ejected for the third time this season. According to the NBA's release, the indefinite suspension "takes into account Green's repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts."

He will be required to meet "certain league and team conditions" before he returns to play, the NBA said.

Green, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Green's agent Rich Paul are expected to meet Thursday to start discussing a path of counseling and assistance for Green to move forward, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The league didn't want to put a specific number on the suspension, but allow Green the time he needs to deal with the challenges he's facing.

Green will be docked $153,941 per game if his suspension is fewer than 20 games and $202,922 per game if more than 20 games.

DNHQ commenters have said suspended player salaries count 50% towards the cap, though I can’t track down a source for that. (Update: rcknfn found this.) (Update: Being found this.)

Here’s what I wrote this morning before the announcement:

Many Dray acts can be explained as flailing or an accident (Steven Adams family jewels multiple times, Domantas stomp, Nurk) but there’s such a strong pattern of dangerous reckless behavior that I’d give it no mercy credit myself. I mean, if it was so easy to do by accident, then why doesn’t it happen more often to others in the league? Probably Draymond incidents outnumber the rest of the league’s combined.

I’m expecting a longer suspension than the previous one.

The season has definitely hit a crossroads. The Big 3 Era is clearly coming to an end (or at least a pause… indefinitely) with Draymond set to miss a lot of games and needing a mental reset, and Klay Thompson shooting terribly and generally making awful decisions all over the court and also needing a mental reset.

Kerr seems to be moving towards giving minutes to the players playing the best. I admire Kerr’s willingness last game to experiment with lineups (somewhat forced by a certain player’s idiocy), but all the new lineups today showed some startup friction with some stagnation, some bad-chemistry turnovers, some confused defense, as they get used to playing with each other.

Of course it would be great to trade and consolidate some of the team depth into a very good player. But I don’t know what difference maker is out there for trade, and I don’t know which one could be gotten in trade for any of the underperforming players — would YOU trade for Wiggins or Klay?

I think this just might be the team for the year, and they’re going to try to grow their way into contention. It’s a long year and players can grow, ribs can heal, and vets can get out of slumps.

Luckily the Warriors have a whole lineup’s worth of promising young players who will likely thrill and enrage us for the rest of the year. At least it won’t be boring.