Old habits die hard. After the controversial season (2023-24), Draymond Green unfortunately seems to have reawakened his bad habits. Last night, the Golden State Warriors took on the short-handed Memphis Grizzlies at home. Even though the Dubs led the game almost entirely, the Grizzlies proved themselves to be capable, defensively, especially with their bigs, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Zach Edey. And, during one such play with the rookie, DrayMagic engaged in a controversial move, forcing the league to interfere, again.
During a defensive play, Edey grabbed a rebound over Green, who had fallen in the failed offensive play. In response, the 4x NBA Champ sparked his old habits and clamped the rookie’s foot to his elbow, as the young gun headed to the other end.
The referees reviewed the play and slapped a technical foul on the Warriors’ veteran power forward. However, following the game, the league officially intervened in this decision and turned it into Flagrant 1 via the NBA’s official X handle.
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Following the league’s decision to upgrade the foul, NBA on ESPN shared the video of the play along with Grizzlies coach, Taylor Jenkins and Zach Edey’s statement via their IG handle. Disappointed with the post, Draymond Green took to the comments and wrote, “Shut up!” On the other hand, he shared Coach Jenkins’ statement on his Instagram stories and wrote, “Booooo!!”
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The coach, initially reacting to the on-court decision, said, “There’s a code in the league and I don’t understand how that wasn’t reviewed. Very disappointing.” Nevertheless, the league heard him out! Similarly, the 22-year-old, who had his first experience of playing against Green, said, “It definitely wasn’t a basketball play,” after the game. Edey recorded 14 points with 9 rebounds.
Draymond Green returns to his bad habits, what’s happened?
Last night, Draymond Green didn’t just receive a technical foul for the Zach Edey situation. In the last quarter, the hoopster and Steve Kerr long argued with a referee over a different play. Suddenly, the ref blew the whistle and called a technical foul. While everyone, including the HC, thought it was on him, it was directed to Green. Guess what? The star had to be ejected after receiving two techs.
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It didn’t luckily hamper the result of the game, as the Warriors held a healthy lead in the fourth quarter. However, it gave flashbacks to the Bay Area faithful, of Draymond Green’s controversial last season, which had reached such an extreme that the floor general even considered calling it all a day, before Adam Silver entered the fiasco to advise him. In the 2023-24 season, Green faced 4 ejections and 2 suspensions. One of the suspensions was an indefinite one after he swung his arm at the Suns‘ Jusuf Nurkić.
The league directed the power forward to attend counseling sessions before setting his foot again on the floor. And, it did definitely work, as the star’s ejections and suspensions completely stopped thereafter. A few days ago, Green shared a post after the Dubs’ successful 5-game road trip on his IG. The caption read, “Just having fun! #therapyworks.” Just when everyone thought that Green had gotten into a good zone for the season, a game later, he was ejected. Is this a one-off thing? Let us know your thoughts below.