Kevin Garnett says the Warriors are ‘afraid to talk’ to Draymond Green, and asking the Golden State Warriors to do this to Draymond Green makes him very nervous..

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green is feeling the consequences after striking Jusuf Nurkić.

Draymond Green doing wild things on the court is nothing new — the Golden State Warriors big man has created controversy with his extracurricular activity throughout his career.

The last 14 months have been particularly rough, though, with Green laying out then-teammate Jordan Poole just before last season, stomping on the chest of Domantas Sabonis during the 2023 NBA Playoffs, putting a chokehold on Rudy Gobert here in 2023-24, and, most recently, hitting Jusuf Nurkić with a spinning back fist earlier this week.

Draymond has been ejected after flagrant foul on Nurkić pic.twitter.com/RmrLU5tdw8

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport)

December 13, 2023

Clearly, his latest act of on-court violence advanced beyond the limits of acceptability in the eyes of those who occupy the league office. Green was suspended indefinitely by NBA executive VP and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars on Wednesday, and he’ll be “required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play” per the official announcement of his suspension.

In the wake of the incident and resulting suspension, players past and present have been sounding off on Green, his team, and the league at large for fostering an environment in which the Warriors star continues to act out. For his part, Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett was particularly critical of the Warriors organization for a perceived lack of action on its part amid Green’s myriad problems.

Warriors Have to ‘Be Real’ With Draymond
“You go to intervene as an organization”

Garnett and fellow Hall of Famer Paul Pierce discussed the situation on the latest episode of Showtime’s Ticket and The Truth podcast, with each maintaining that Green’s mercurial nature has been an asset on the court. However, Garnett stressed that the four-time All-Star needs to do a better job of not exploding to the point that he’s engaging in detrimental conduct.

And he believes the Warriors need to be more involved in getting him into that headspace.

“You got to understand a ball of fire comes out … How about somebody help him with the ball of fire? If you see a guy like this is doing this type s***, then you got to intervene as an organization. You got to go sit him, chop him up and holler at him, ‘Hey look, they on you. They watching you.'”

For his part, Pierce pointed out that such conversations are undoubtedly playing out behind the scenes. Garnett, however, had his doubts about how proactive the Warriors have been in helping Green stay on the level when he competes.

“I actually think the organization is afraid to go talk to him and be real. … Ain’t no motherf***** in no billion-dollar corp acting a fool if one of us ain’t gonna step up to say something. They afraid of this man. Or it’s a level of respect to where they like, ‘Oh, we really don’t want to f*** with that.’”

Green’s All-Around Efforts Put Him in Elite Company
2023-24 Statistics: 9.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 5.8 APG, 42.9 3PT%

Where winning and losing is concerned, the Warriors have been decidedly mediocre regardless of Green’s availability this season. That said, they have been worse (3-6) without out him and with him (7-8). And the on/off numbers paint a similar picture. And his statistical line puts him in rarefied air within the Association.

In his 15 appearances for Golden State in 2023-24, Green has averaged 9.7 points, 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds per contest while connecting on 49.0 percent of his shot attempts overall and 42.9 percent of his tried from behind the arc.

So far this season, only five players have matched or exceeded a 9-5-5 line while drilling 40-plus percent of their triples — LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Domantas Sabonis and Green.

Green also ranks second only to Stephen Curry on the Warriors in box plus/minus (3.2) and fourth in the entire league in charges drawn with 10, despite missing so many games due to suspension.