While the Warriors have been without suspended forward Draymond Green since Dec. 12, he has taken a major step toward making his return.
Following his most recent on-court incident, the NBA suspended Green for a second time this season. In November, he served a five-game suspension for placing Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in a chokehold. Less than one month later, he was suspended for a flagrant foul on Suns center Jusuf Nurkic.
With Green suspended two times in as many months, the league handed him a suspension that required some interpretation. Here is an explanation of Green’s current suspension and when he could potentially return to the floor for Golden State.
MORE: Complete history of Draymond Green suspensions
How long was Draymond Green suspended?
After he was handed an indefinite suspension from the NBA on Dec. 13, the NBA announced that Green had officially been reinstated on Saturday, Jan. 6.
Green’s reinstatement comes after he missed 12 games without pay during the 2023-24 season. Golden State posted a 7-5 record during Green’s suspension.
And while Green has been reinstated, he is not expected to immediately return to the floor. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that Green will need around a week to ramp up to get back into game shape.
What were the terms of Draymond Green’s suspension?
In its release, the NBA provided a brief outline of what Green did to meet the requirements of reinstatement:
During the period of his suspension, which began on Dec. 14 and resulted in him missing 12 games, Green completed steps that demonstrated his committment to conforming his conduct to standards expected of NBA players. He has engaged in meetings with a counselor and has met jointly on multiple occasions with representatives of the NBA, the Warriors, and the National Basketball Players Association, both of which will continue throughout the season.
According to TNT Sports’ Chris Haynes, Green would be allowed to continue to practice with the team while serving his suspension.
On Monday, Dec. 18, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Green had started counseling and “is expected to remain sidelined via suspension for at least the next three weeks.”
On Thursday, Jan. 4, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski provided an update that Green “is expected to return to the Warriors’ facility in the coming days to start ramping up to resume play again,” keeping in line with the three-week timeline reported by Charania.
The Warriors’ first game after Green’s reinstatement is on Jan. 7 against Toronto. In the next week, they will play at Milwaukee on Jan. 13 and in Memphis on Jan. 15.
Green has appeared in 15 games this season. He’s averaging 9.7 points, 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game.
What does suspended indefinitely mean?
Suspended indefinitely means that the suspension will last for an indeterminate period. Green’s suspension was not tied to a specific number of games, days or weeks, but rather an unspecified amount of time tied to his fulfillment of certain league and team conditions.
According to Wojnarowski, Green, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and his agent Rich Paul were expected to meet to discuss a “path of counseling and help for Green to move forward.”
Wojnarowski added that suspension was not given a specific number to allow Green the ability to fully deal with “challenges he’s facing.”
“We just want him to go through the process of getting better,” NBA executive VP Joe Dumars told Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take. “There’s no specific, ‘hey, you have to check this specific box and everything’s good.’ We want to see him make progress, get better, come back and be the great player that he’s been for such a long time in Golden State.”
Dumars added, “We’ll be ready when he’s ready. I think it will work out — I think this is the best route we could take for him. I think the best thing we could have done was not put a number on [the suspension] and start a clock … it’s best for the league, it’s best for Golden State and it’s best for Draymond, the way this has unfolded here.”
MORE: Jusuf Nurkic says Draymond Green ‘needs help’ after ejection
Why was Draymond Green suspended?
Green was suspended for striking Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face. In the NBA’s release, the suspension and its indefinite length “takes into account Green’s repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.”
Here is the play that resulted in Green getting ejected and ultimately suspended:
Draymond has been ejected after flagrant foul on Nurkić pic.twitter.com/RmrLU5tdw8
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 13, 2023
