Draymond Green deserves at least a 10-game suspension for hitting Jusuf Nurkic thanks to history

Hitting Jusuf Nurkic, whether accidental or not, isn't the point. It's time for the league to crack down.

Draymond Green can claim all he wants that he didn’t mean to clock Jusuf Nurkic in the face on Tuesday night in the Golden State Warriors’ loss to the Phoenix Suns.

But he’s responsible for his body and his actions, and swinging his arm wildly while maybe trying to get a call on Nurkic and ending up with his arm slamming into the Suns’ forward’s head was indeed excessive.

And it deserves a 10-game suspension. At least.

Yes, Green has done worse. Choking Rudy Gobert was horrible, and for that, he received the longest suspension of his career with five games off, with his history increasing that number, per the league. Our Mike Sykes wrote at the time that it didn’t feel like enough, and I felt the same.

So here we are with another incident.

ICYMI: Warriors forward Draymond Green was ejected during the third quarter of Tuesday’s 119-116 loss to the Suns after hitting Phoenix big man Jusuf Nurkić in the face.

@BleacherReportpic.twitter.com/eLrsbg55j6

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) December 13, 2023

Green claims he didn’t “intend to hit him” and was trying to sell the call (but he’s “not a flopper.” Not the point to argue right now, but: really?):

“As you know, I’m not one to apologize for things that I meant to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him.”

Draymond Green on his ejection tonight pic.twitter.com/qcDlIvuFxS

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 13, 2023

This is an easy call. He needs at least 10 games off. Enough is enough.

Enough was enough before the Gobert choke and now it’s beyond enough. Green has proven that he’s willing to push the boundaries of safety on the court even if it costs him a few games off, and Adam Silver’s last suspension felt like a warning that there could be more for behavior like this. It should be.

Ten games is an eighth of the season, enough to send the message that you can’t go around choking players in scrums or hitting opponents in the face (Green has lost the benefit of the doubt when it comes to claiming it was accidental). This particular incident isn’t the point.

The point is that Green has gone too far overall, that you can’t do all of this in the NBA, and that it’s time for him to stop.