He didn't stop talking about the carry.
This was Draymond Green's first game back from his five-game suspension. The Golden State Warriors forward had served his league-mandated discipline for dragging Rudy Gobert all over the court like he was playing hoops on a WWE stage. He was 13 months removed from the infamous Jordan Poole punch, six months from the Domantas Sabonis kick and two weeks from the Jusuf Nurkić punch against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night that led to the NBA suspending him indefinitely a day later Time blocked. And Green, whose struggling Warriors had led the Sacramento Kings for nearly the entirety of this Nov. 28 rematch of playoff opponents, was once again consumed by his own intensity.
No matter what was going on around him, Green always said that Malik Monk touched the ball with his palm as it fell and, like so many thousands of NBA players before him, was not penalized. He dramatically recreated Monk's carry for the officials – the same ones he had spent nearly a minute mocking when a Trey Lyles elbow went uncalled and forced Green to flop – and drew a technical foul Mitchell Ervin turning the ball over energy in the building. But that didn't stop Green from continuing.
After Green was removed from the game seconds later, he told Warriors coach Steve Kerr all about what Monk had done. He continued his anti-carry battle on the bench, where Green engaged in a spirited shouting match with player development coach Anthony Vereen, during which he actually pointed his finger in Green's direction and was so tense that Jonathan Kuminga and several others decided to leave to play the role of peacemaker. Meanwhile, on the floor, the Kings cameback from a 24-point deficit. The frustration on the faces of several nearby Warriors, including Klay Thompson, was clearly visible. And for a good reason.
Once again, as has often been the case lately, Green seemed to be obsessed with the micro rather than the macro. With the game, the season and the end of their storied dynasty on the line, Green became so emotionally embarrassed in that moment that he forgot to think about the long-term impact of his actions. What was more surprising, and what seemed to leave the door wide open for incidents to come, was that Green was so comfortable being, as the kids say, at that extra level, even after the two sendings off and the suspension for five Games had already made life so unnecessarily difficult for his team this season.
“The Warriors … need to keep their composure and play basketball,” TNT announcer Stan Van Gundy said on the telecast during that period that led to the Kings' 124-123 victory.
By “warrior” he meant Green, of course. And what they really need, with the trade deadline looming on February 8, is to finally start answering the tough questions that everyone at Chase Center seems to want to ignore.
Where is this all leading? And with a record $400 million (including luxury taxes) in payroll hanging over them, when might Warriors owner Joe Lacob decide it's time for a significant change? As one front office executive put it following Green's leveling of Nurkić, “I would imagine some reevaluations (taking place now).”
But if winning titles is the end goal for all of them – and it is – then the inconvenient truth is that this venerated group of future Hall of Famers can't seem to get anywhere close. They get beat most nights and have lost 12 of their last 17 after a 5-1 start. They seem broken in ways that go far beyond just the box score, with a whole host of late-game situations thrown into disarray during this brutal start. They look…cooked.
Everyone except Chef Curry, of course. And that's just not enough.
Steph is still Steph, 35 years old and all. But the 33-year-old Thompson, whose looming free agency represents another point of stress after he and the Warriors failed to agree to an extension, is having his worst year on both ends of the floor in more than a decade. The 33-year-old Green, who signed a four-year, $100 million contract over the summer, can still play at a high level, but is still a problem because (see above).
Andrew Wiggins' production, whose renaissance was a key factor in winning the title in 2022, has dropped dramatically across the board. And what brings more uncertainty: They have a coach in Kerr, whose contract expires after this season, and a general manager in Mike Dunleavy Jr., who is in his first season filling the huge shoes left by the late Bob Myers.
Everywhere I go these days there are human reminders of how much the warrior world has changed. On the media side, you'll now see Myers as an ESPN analyst, retired Andre Iguodala running the players' union as executive director, and former Warriors player/front office executive Shaun Livingston joins his old teammate in the NBPA. These are all people who used to get through to Green, men whose credibility would come in handy in the many times when a Green-driven crisis would inevitably come.
This is important, of course, because it is the lack of a calming effect that could force these warriors to make difficult decisions sooner than expected. It's hard to keep moving forward when the coals beneath your feet are so hot. You could see this dynamic in real time in the Sacramento game, where it was so clear that there was no one on this team — Steph included — who could persuade Green to channel his energy in a more positive direction for the greater good.
We'll never know what would have happened if the Warriors had taken a tougher approach to Green in recent years, especially after the Poole hit two Octobers ago. He was never suspended for this ugly act, as the Warriors instead decided to fine him while also giving him the green light for a short time off that ended in time for the start of the regular season. The league, in this case showing respect for the Warriors' celebrated culture and choosing to leave the situation up to the organization, remained on the sidelines.
In hindsight, that was clearly a mistake. A gentle precedent was set, and the Warriors later reaffirmed their loyalty to Green by re-drafting him last summer, shortly before trading Poole to the Washington Wizards (as part of the three-team deal that brought them Chris Paul) .
But it no longer matters how they got here. The frequency of Green's incidents and the near-constant stress they place on everyone involved make it difficult to imagine this group riding off into the retirement sunset together.
Not at this price. Not with these goals. And especially not when Green single-handedly sabotages her retirement in this way.
(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)