Draymond Green handed five-game suspension over ugly act

The NBA have delivered a monster ban to a star player after he delivered an inexcusable act on a rival in the middle of a game.

Insane scenes two minutes into the game. Photo: Twitter

The NBA have come down hard on Draymond Green following his ugly act against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

Chaos erupted in the opening minutes of the Golden State Warriors and Timberwolves clash when Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels got tangled up, igniting an all in melee.

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Green thrust himself into the middle of the carnage when he ran in and dragged Wolves centre Rudy Gobert out of the action by throwing his right arm around his neck.

Warriors coaching staff along with Wolves players attempted to break up the choke hold as Green refused to let his rival go.

Calls came in thick and fast from within the NBA world for Green to be suspended over the horrific incident and on Thursday the league responded.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the league is handing the Warriors forward a five-game suspension.

The significant hit for the Western Conference powerhouse means Green won’t be eligible to return to the court until November 29 when they take on the Sacramento Kings.

“The length of the suspension is based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts,” an NBA statement read.

Thompson, McDaniels and Gobert were all handed $25,000 fines for their part in the fracas.

The NBA is suspending Golden State’s Draymond Green for five games, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 16, 2023

Gobert unloaded on Green after the match, labelling the forward a “clown” and saying it’s what he always tries to do when he has to play without superstar teammate Steph Curry.

“Every time Steph doesn’t play, (Green) doesn’t want to play without his guy Steph, so he does anything he can to get ejected,” Gobert said after the game.

He added that he was trying to “de-escalate the situation”.

“My first thought was just, ‘I’m not going to fight. I need to be in this game to help my team’,” Gobert said.

“I just showed the ref that I had my hands up, and I just waited until the situation was over. Nothing more than that. It wasn’t a good enough choke to put me to sleep.”

Insane scenes two minutes into the game. Photo: Twitter

Warriors coach Steve Kerr stated after the contest Green was merely defending his teammate and Thompson shouldn’t have been ejected.

“There is no way Klay Thompson should have been thrown out of the game,” Kerr said. “He’s running up the floor and the guy grabs his jersey and is pulling on him, so Klay pulls back. No way Klay should have been ejected — that was ridiculous.”

On Green’s dismissal, Kerr added: “If you watch the replay, Rudy had his hands on Klay’s neck. And that’s why Draymond went after Rudy. I saw one replay after it happened.

“Guys on the back of the bench were telling us that Rudy had Klay, that’s why Draymond went at Rudy. That’s all I know.

“But it was a bizarre way to start the game, a minute and a half in.”