Jay Williams Calls Draymond Green Suspension 'Extremely Lenient'
By Liam McKeone
Every season Draymond Green is good for at least one or two "what the hell" moments and his first came real early this year, sneaking up behind Rudy Gobert and putting him in a chokehold. It was a truly unhinged act from a professional basketball player yet pretty much par for the course for the Golden State Warriors forward. The NBA acted pretty quickly and suspended Green for five games less than 24 hours after the incident occurred, the biggest suspension given out in the situation. The league cited Green's past behavior for the severity of the punishment.
On Thursday morning's edition of Get Up Jay Williams expressed his opinion that five games was not enough and eventually the higher-ups have to come down hard on Green to say enough is enough.
The league probably thought they were being strict with the suspension, given it's Green's longest by a considerable margin. For all his antics in the past he's only gotten hit with one-game suspensions for each of the four infractions that caused the punishments. However, most people probably agree with Williams.
Draymond's act is tired and this was the most uncalled-for act of violence yet. Not to say that Steven Adams or Domantas Sabonis deserved it, of course, but Green really came out of nowhere to choke out Gobert because there was some pushing and shoving. A massive escalation for no reason other than defending his teammate, which is a perfectly fine reason to overreact a bit. Breaking out MMA moves is more than a bit of an overreaction.
Any more than five games probably would've resulted in an appeal and/or legal action by the NBAPA so it may all be a moot discussion but Williams is speaking for all those who are sick of Green pulling his stunts.