Golden State Warriors All-Star Draymond Green has started counseling and is expected to remain sidelined via suspension for at least the next three weeks, according to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The NBA suspended Green indefinitely after the four-time champion struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face. Green was suspended for five games earlier in the season after putting Minnesota Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert in a headlock.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who was punched in the face by Michael Jordan when the two were teammates on the Chicago Bulls, thinks an indefinite suspension for Green makes sense.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors Updates
“To me, this is about more than basketball. It’s about helping Draymond,” Kerr said. “I think it’s an opportunity for Draymond to step away and to make a change in his approach and his life and that’s not an easy thing to do. That’s not something you say, ‘OK, five games and then he’s going to be fine.’”
Green is averaging 9.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.7 blocks this season while shooting 49.0% from the field, 42.9% from beyond the arc and 83.3% from the free-throw line. The Warriors are 12-14. They are in 11th place in the Western Conference standings.
Green, a future Hall of Famer, told NBA reporter Ramona Shelburne that he plans to call Nurkic to apologize for hitting him in the face. The Warriors legend said he didn’t intentionally try to hit Nurkic.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors Updates
“I’ve done things that have gotten me taken out of the game, and all of those things I’ve stood on,” Green said. “I don’t back down from those things. I don’t back down from something because of what a suspension may or may not be. I’m not that person. I am very much so the person that I say I am. I only apologize for things if I did not mean to do them. I don’t just come out apologizing just to save my ass. That’s not who I am. But I didn’t mean to do it, which is why I wanted to apologize.”
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