After the NBA fined Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray $100,000 with
no suspension for hurling a heat pack onto the court May 6 in a playoff game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, controversial Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green took issue with the punishment.On a recent episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, Green told Shaquille O’Neal that if he had done the same thing, he would have gotten suspended for the remainder of the playoffs.
Green told the NBA Hall of Famer was suspended when the Warriors played against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals for trying to strike LeBron James. Due to that action, he “got suspended for trying to make contact.”
But Green’s issue also that there’s no definitive punishment for actions that may warrant such.
“The problem I have oftentimes with the suspensions and different things is like, you don’t know what it is,” Green said. “Sometimes it’s here, sometimes it’s there, sometimes it’s in between. It just kind of moves. There is no set, ‘You do this, you get this. You do that, you get that.’ It’s all over the place.”
He also compared the type of punishment he receives without acknowledging that his history typically results in the harshness of the offense committed.
“I think it was absolutely insane that you get a $100,000 fine, no suspension, nothing for throwing a heat pack at an official. Man, I throw a word at an official, and they throw me under the jail!”
In December 2023, the NBA suspended Green indefinitely “for striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face. This outcome takes into account Green’s repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.”
The NBA said Green had “to meet certain league and team conditions” before returning to play. After sitting out 12 games, Green was reinstated January 6.