Report: Warriors have 'growing concern' Draymond Green could be suspended
Draymond Green's back-and-forth with LeBron James could be costly
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1 min read
There is "growing concern" in the Golden State Warriors organization about Draymond Green potentially being suspended for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, according to ESPN's Marc Spears. The league is looking into the incident between Green and Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James late in Friday's Game 4.
After the two of them got tangled up and Green fell to the floor, the Warriors forward took exception to James stepping over him. When Green got up, he appeared to hit James in the groin. James barely reacted to the hit, but he was extremely upset about something Green said.
Green and James had to be separated. It was later reported that Green used some NSFW words to describe James.
If Green is retroactively assessed a flagrant-1 foul for the apparent low blow, then he would receive an automatic one-game suspension. He already has one flagrant-1 and one flagrant-2 foul in the playoffs, which gives him three flagrant foul points.
Golden State is one win away from winning the championship. The last thing it needs is to lose an All-Star, especially one who is the key to its smallball attack and switching defense. This particular stat seems relevant right now:
GSW in Finals: With Draymond at C: 81 minutes, +53. All other lineups: 111 minutes, -24.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 11, 2016
It's never good when a Finals game is decided by officiating or a suspension. The rules are there for a reason, though, and if a player does something out of line, he will have to sit out regardless of if it's December or June. Most reasonable people outside of Cleveland would probably agree that Green's actions here were not so egregious that it should cost him a game, but that's up to the league office to decide now. Expect a ruling soon.
Game 5 is 9 p.m. ET on Monday.
