As a four-time champion with the Golden State Warriors, Draymond Green isn’t one to back away from committing hard fouls or backing away from on-court confrontations against his opponents.
He believes the Minnesota Timberwolves need to send a message back to the San Antonio Spurs after the hard elbow Victor Wembanyama threw at Naz Reid in Game 4 of their NBA Playoffs series.
He mentioned on his “The Draymond Green Show” podcast that earlier on Monday, the NBA announced Wemby wouldn’t receive a suspension or fine for the foul that led to his ejection from the game.
“What if the shoe was on the other foot and it was Naz Reid taking out Wemby?” Green asked. “I think this situation would look totally different. There would be fines. There would be suspensions.”
Green also pointed out that Nikola Jokic and Jaden McDaniels received fines for doing less than that. One could say the same about Mitchell Robinson and Dyson Daniels, who had a first-round tussle in the Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks series, as both players were ejected and fined for getting entangled.
During his recent discussion of Wemby’s ejection, Green also called out Spurs head coach Mitch Robinson for defending Wemby and suggested he was “taking matters into his own hands” during the game.
“For there not to even be a fine, it’s crazy,” Green said. “For there not to even be a fine, let alone a suspension, I think, is insane.”
“I would say to the Minnesota Timberwolves, ‘Hey guys, this is fair game. There’s no suspension. There’s no fines. This is fair game. Who’s coming out there tomorrow night and doing it to Wemby? Who’s gonna elbow him in the face?” he contemplated.
“To see those reactions, you gotta get your get back. If nobody’s coming back out of those guys going at Wemby, you lose the war because what he just did is set a tone,” Green suggested.
“You either go full force at it, or you get rolled over. So, we’ll see what the Minnesota Timberwolves do,” the multi-time NBA All-Star said.
Some believe that Wembanyama received no fine or suspension because it was his first major offense of that nature. Others contend it was due to the NBA realizing his importance in these playoffs for competitive games.
It’s unlikely the NBA will fine Green for this podcast suggestion about physical retaliation against Wemby. Still, the league hasn’t shied away from fining players for critical remarks on social media, live streams, or podcasts.
Mitchell Robinson picked up an additional fine after his ejection in the Hawks-Knicks scuffle because he shared a post making light of the situation on his Instagram Story afterward.
The Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown received a hefty fine for criticizing the officiating on a live stream after his team’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Green is on the outside of the playoffs, looking in, and this is just him sharing strong opinions about a situation he wasn’t involved in. However, he is a veteran player with connections to other players in the league and was involved in an on-court confrontation with Wemby this past season after the Spurs star dunked on him.
One has to wonder whether the Timberwolves will take the Warriors star’s advice and send a message back, or try to send a bigger one by upsetting the No. 2-seeded Spurs in this Western Conference series.