Woj: Warriors’ Draymond Green Will Be Suspended for Flagrant Foul on Jusuf Nurkić

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A suspension is incoming for Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green after he swung at and struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face during Tuesday’s 119-116 loss.

“Based on my conversations today—and based on the obvious, what everyone could see—Green will be suspended,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported during NBA Today. “Whether that’s today or sometime tomorrow ahead of Thursday’s game in L.A. The question is, how long will he be suspended for?”

Green apologized after the game, saying he didn’t attempt to hit Nurkić but that he does “sell calls with my arms. I don’t fall to sell a call, I’m not a flopper. So I was selling the call because he was grabbing me and pulling my hip back. So I swung away and unfortunately, I hit him.”

Nurkić offered a more pointed response to the incident.

“What’s going on with him?” he asked while speaking to reporters. “I don’t know. Personally, I feel like that brother needs help. I’m glad he didn’t try to choke me. At the same time, it ain’t nothing to do with basketball. I’m just out there trying to play basketball and there’s swinging. … Hope whatever he’s got going on in his life gets better.”

Phoenix Suns head coach Frank Vogel called it a “reckless, dangerous play.”

Green has probably lost the benefit of the doubt at this point—he’s now been ejected three times this season. His first came on Nov. 11, after picking up two technical fouls against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

His second came just three days later when he choked Rudy Gobert from behind while pulling him away from a scrap during a matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Similar to Tuesday, he was given a flagrant 2 during that incident and immediately ejected.

That earned him a five-game suspension, with the NBA citing his history of infractions as the basis for the length of the punishment. It’s probable that an equal or longer suspension is incoming for this latest situation, a major blow for a Warriors team that has gotten off to just a 10-13 start this season.

“We need him. We need Draymond. He knows that,” head coach Steve Kerr told reporters after the game. “We’ve talked to him. He’s got to find a way to keep his poise and be out there for his teammates.”

He just likely won’t be out there for awhile after this latest incident.