More than a few days later, Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green is still dealing with an unsportsmanlike act in last week’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Now Green has gone on the defensive following a segment on ESPN’s First Take featuring Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins, where they discussed whether Green should have been suspended for his takedown of Zach Edey.
Warriors Draymond Green Claps Back at Suspension Activists
Warriors Veteran Draymond Green Responded to First Take’s “Suspension” Discussion
On his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, with former Golden State player Baron Davis, Green issued a robust, enthusiastic rebuttal [11:22 mark] to the conversation surrounding his upgraded flagrant one foul call against the Grizzlies, which some believe deserved a suspension—namely, Perkins.
“…and then you got Stephen A. talking about many people around the league thinking Draymond should be suspended. That ain’t right because if many people around the league think Draymond should be suspended, guess what? Draymond gonna be suspended…I’m playing too well BD [Baron Davis] and guess what else, the ratings are low. We know, we know Dramyond’s name sparks buzz, we know that name carries weight, we know that gets people riled up. Hey man, ratings are low and sub in Draymond.”
That response followed in the wake of the conversation Stephan A’s and Perkins discussion on First Take Tuesday morning.
“Well, I do, I do, and I actually think Draymond should be suspended for an extended period of time. We’re talking about a play where he pulled on the opponent’s [Edey] achilles while the opponent was going the opposite direction.” Perkins continued, “It’s a sticky situation because it is Draymond. Some people like me are saying this is a dirty play…But if you ask me, he needs to be suspended for an extended period of time. There’s no room, no place in our game for those type of actions.”
Blaming the Ratings?
Green’s attempt to accuse the conversation around a suspension as a replacement for low NBA ratings is an interesting approach. Either it’s true, and he’s right. He’s being discussed because no one is talking about or watching the NBA right now. Or, Green is being discussed because of an in-game incident that caused controversy involving a player—himself. And it just so happens that that player, again, himself, has a long history of in-game incidents that cause controversy. Simple logic would dictate that the latter is the more plausible perspective.
There is one aspect here Green does have right, however. Given his rap sheet, game officials would have called it right then and there if they deemed the incident more severe in real-time. So, clearly, the refs thought otherwise. The thing is, though, because there was no call at first, then it was changed later, and it is now garnering suspension talk, Green might not escape the next takedown or suspicious act so easily. Does that indicate pressure on refs going forward? Maybe, but there is a target on his back, and Green is aware. His comments in his podcast speak to that. But to shift this blowback onto low ratings? That’s a hard take to buy into. It’s not far-fetched that had Green and Edey’s incident happened while the NBA was experiencing high ratings, talk shows like First Take would still discuss it.
