Draymond Green has a troublesome past that he wishes to put behind him. Last season, he spent over ten games in suspension and had incidents that even Kerr admitted were ‘too far.’ From his 12-game suspension, he even contemplated retirement. However, at the end of the path, he vowed to improve. “I’m very confident I can remove the antics,” Green said, reflecting on his suspension. Yet, against the Memphis Grizzlies, those habits seemed to find a way back.

After turning the ball over against them, he held on to rookie Zach Edey’s ankle. The intention didn’t seem to hurt; rather, it stopped the play. But it was not well received. Taylor Jenkins, the head coach of the Grizzlies, expressed the foul call as “very disappointing.” Later, even the NBA agreed to his sentiments, upgrading it to a Flagrant 1. Now, there are talks about whether the punishment is sufficient considering Green’s past.

Stephen A. Smith, a well-connected individual, felt that was the punishment Jenkins was probing for from the league. “I do believe that certainly when you look at coach and what he had to say, he definitely felt that way,” he said on ESPN’s First Take. Yet, when it came to his thoughts, he didn’t feel the foul was severe enough to prompt a suspension.

“Well, I’m satisfied with the upgrade to a flagrant 1. But I think its important to recognize that you have a lot of people in the league who believe that Draymond should be suspended. I am not one of those people,” said the renowned media personality.

However, that didn’t stop his colleague and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins from mapping the potential dangers of the act that should warrant a suspension, in his opinion. “We are talking about a play where he pulled on an opponent’s Achilles while the opponent was going in the opposite direction. And we are talking about a guy, Zach Edey, who is 7’2″and 7’3″, probably 300 pounds. This could have been a season-ending injury right here,” the former Celtic expressed.

Draymond Green made his thoughts clear on the foul

In his post-game press conference, Jenkins didn’t hold back in his criticism of the officiating. He felt the foul required further assessment and brought back an old conversation. It became a matter of “code”. For those unaware of history, this occurred when Dillion Brooks committed a hard foul on Gary Payton II.

Steve Kerr mentioned it. “This code that players follow where you never put a guy’s season [or] career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in midair and clubbing him across the head, ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow. … He broke the code,” he said at the time.

Taylor Jenkins revised the conversation with Green’s foul on Edey. “So I know there’s a code in this league, and I don’t understand how that wasn’t reviewed. Very disappointing,” said the experienced coach. Draymond Green came across it. And his reaction was enough to gauge his sentiments regarding the severity.

He posted an Instagram story with the caption “Booo.” In hindsight, since the foul didn’t cause much harm, Draymond Green should be safe from suspension. Furthermore, in terms of Brooks’ foul, despite Payton II fracturing his elbow, the now Rockets’ defensive forward didn’t receive a heavy penalty either.

Nonetheless, given his past, do you think Green should have faced a suspension? Let us know what you think in the comments below.