Warriors star Draymond Green was indefinitely suspended by the NBA on Wednesday, but the two players at the center of Green’s in-game altercations this season are showing concern for him in the wake of the league’s discipline.
“I have empathy for him,” Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert told ESPN on Thursday night.
Gobert was put into a headlock by Green during a game on Nov. 14, which led to a five-game suspension for the Warriors forward. That didn’t stop Gobert from hoping that Green gets help.
“You see somebody that’s not well inside and suffering. You take away the game and all that, and you want somebody to be well and be able to do what we do every night and compete and be happy,” Gobert said.
Suns center Jusuf Nurkić, who was struck in the head by Green on Tuesday night, leading to the indefinite suspension, said he still has an immense amount of esteem for the longtime Warriors star.
“I have a lot of respect for him, obviously, even before this,” Nurkić told reporters Wednesday. “I still have it. I don’t know what people go through. It’s not our problem, but he’s an NBA champion for me. Hall of Famer still. It’s kind of sad to see people going in a bad direction. I want him to succeed and still be the Draymond we all know. I have no bad feelings or any hate towards him.”
NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars wanted the focus of the suspension to be on getting Green the help he needs.
“First of all, we knew there would be some level of punishment,” Dumars said. “But we didn’t want that to be the focus. We wanted the focus to be on how can we help Draymond as well. We thought indefinite was the best way to that.”
There is no current timetable for Green’s return to the lineup. The Warriors fell to the Clippers 121–113 on Thursday night as Clippers star James Harden topped the 25,000-point mark while Green served the first game of his suspension.
