Following a Nov. 14th altercation with Rudy Gobert, Draymond Green was suspended for five games without pay for escalating an on-court altercation by placing Gobert in a choke hold and dragging him across the court, according to the NBA league office. The suspension is the fifth of Green's career and carries the harshest punishment handed him, with his previous four suspensions lasting one game per offense.
When will Draymond Green return?
The suspension was announced by NBA Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars, who has a long friendship with Green. Only seven months earlier, Dumars handed Green a one game suspension after he stomped on Domantas Sabonis' chest in the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings first round playoff series.
Coincidentally, Green is eligible to return for the Warriors' Nov. 28 game in Sacramento. It will be the first time Green will have played in two weeks, and he could face a limited minutes restriction after such a long layoff.
Green's five-game suspension is the longest suspension for an on-court altercation since Meta World-Peace, Ron Artest, received a seven-game suspension for elbowing James Harden's head in April of 2012. In both instances, the players' previous histories of unsportsmanlike conduct factored into the length of the suspension.
Draymond Green's suspension came at the worst time
The suspension could not have come at a worse time for the Warriors. Amid a three-game losing streak, Green, as well as Klay Thompson, were ejected less than two minutes into the game. The Warriors would lose by three to the Timberwolves and have extended the losing streak to six games with two more losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The three remaining games on Green's suspension will see him miss the Warriors' contests against the Houston Rockets (Nov. 20), Phoenix Suns (Nov. 22), and San Antonio Spurs (Nov. 24). The Rockets are 6-5 with a plus-3.7 net rating, and the Suns are 7-6 with a plus-1.6 net rating and have Devin Booker back from injury. The Spurs, despite a promising start to the season, have slumped to 3-10 and own the league's worst net rating at minus-12.6.
The Warriors could easily see their losing streak extend to eight games before they get a chance to face the Spurs. Even with the boost of Draymond returning, they'll have to battle the Kings, winners of six straight. Since the return of De'Aaron Fox four games ago, the Kings have blitzed opponents for 128.8 points per game and an offensive rating of 128.4.
This season, in a small sample, the Warriors have been much better without Green on the court, but over the previous two seasons, the Warriors are plus-6.1 points per 100 possessions better with Green on the court. The Warriors are scuffling, and Draymond's suspension has only exacerbated their problems. It's a long season, but with how strong the Western Conference playoff field is, the Warriors can't afford to dig themselves a deep early-season hole.