National Basketball Association

Dumars: Decision to suspend Draymond Green was 'difficult'

Published Apr. 19, 2023 12:06 p.m. ET

NBA Executive Vice President Joe Dumars said Wednesday that the decision to suspend Golden State's Draymond Green for Game 3 of the Warriors' first-round series against Sacramento was difficult, and wasn't made without serious consideration of many factors.

Draymond Green to miss Game 3

There were whispers that the repercussions for Draymond Green weren't at an end when he was ejected during the Warriors' Game 2 loss vs. the Kings.

Dumars, who oversees the league's basketball operations and sanctions for on-court incidents, said Tuesday night that Green would sit a game for stepping on the chest of Kings center Domantas Sabonis. That incident happened midway during the fourth quarter of Game 2 on Monday night.

Green was ejected for the play, and the league escalated the punishment a day later.

"This was not some snap-of-the-finger decision to do this," Dumars said. "There was much discussion, and back and forth, looking at the play itself over and over. And then ultimately we came to the decision that the act itself, and repeat offenses, actually did warrant a suspension."

Green spent several moments gesturing at and yelling to the crowd in Sacramento after the play, and Dumars said that also was a factor.

"The stuff that happened afterward, that doesn't help the situation," Dumars said. "But if it was just that alone, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I focused on the act itself, the fact that it's a repeat offense. Those were the two main things."

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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