Suns big man Jusuf Nurkic was Draymond Green’s latest victim in the Suns 119-116 over the Warriors and Nurkic has reacted to being hit by league’s most violent man.
With 8:23 left in the third, Green swung his right forearm around with force and hit Nurkic in the head while defending him.
The Warriors forward was ejected and issued a flagrant foul 2 for the incident and all hopes of a Warriors win died.
What’s going on him? I don’t know,” Nurkic told reporters after the game. “Personally, I feel like that brother needs help. I’m glad he did not try to choke me but at the same time, it has nothing to do with basketball. Man, I’m just out there trying to play basketball and [Green] swinging. I think we saw that often but I hope whatever he got in his life, he gets better.”
Draymond surprisingly issued Nurkic an apology after the game for his actions, but the damage had already been done.
“I’m not one to apologize for things I meant to do,” Green told reporters in Phoenix. “But I do apologize to Jusuf. Even though I didn’t intend to hit him, I sell calls with my arms. I don’t fall to sell a call. I’m not a flopper. I was just selling the call because he was grabbing and pulling my hip. So, I spun away. And, unfortunately, I hit him.
“So, I apologize to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him.”
The incident marked the third time Green has been ejected this season alone.
The NBA are in the midst of sceuring a TV rights deal in the range of $10 billion per season, which they won’t get by selling violence on the court.
Joe Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president in charge of basketball operations has known Green for more than 20 years, as their relationship spans back to when he was playing for the Bad Boy Pistons.
But even for a Dumars, Draymond’s behavior is out of pocket.
“It was less than four weeks ago that Dumars had a long, long chat with Draymond about the chokehold he put on Rudy Gobert. Dumars, according to league sources, made it clear he was concerned about the optics in relation to the league’s desire to secure new TV deals,” NBC Sports Bay Area reports.
Draymond’s last suspension for his chokehold on Rudy Gobert was five games. The league may well suspend him for longer this time around.