Draymond Green placing Rudy Gobert in a chokehold has become one of the most significant storylines in the NBA early in the season. The altercation during Tuesday’s game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors resulted in ejections, player suspensions, and fines.
A jersey-grabbing episode involving Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels ignited the tussle between the two teams in their In-Season Tournament matchup. After the chaos, Thompson and McDaniels were assessed technical fouls worthy of ejections and Green was ejected for a level 2 flagrant foul after putting Gobert in a chokehold.
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Draymond Green was slapped with a five-game suspension that will cause him to miss $769,970, while Thompson, McDaniels and Gobert were each fined $25,000.
Interestingly, another choking incident involving a Minnesota Timberwolves big man occurred in 2019. In response to Green’s suspension, a fan of the Warriors on X (formerly Twitter) highlighted the discrepancy, noting that Ben Simmons faced no suspension for placing Karl-Anthony Towns in a chokehold during a 2019 incident.
In that altercation, Simmons intervened in an altercation between Towns and Joel Embiid to prevent further tensions and put Towns in a chokehold. Although Towns and Embiid were both suspended for two games, Simmons did not receive any penalties.
Simmons was even dubbed a “peacemaker” in the incident.
Rudy Gobert calls Draymond Green out for ‘clown beha
The Timberwolves emerged victorious in the turbulent game against the Warriors, securing a 104-101 win. Following the match, Rudy Gobert criticized Draymond Green, denouncing his actions as “clown behavior.”
“It’s kind of funny because before the game, I was telling myself that [Steph Curry] is not playing, so I know Draymond is going to try and get ejected. Because every time Steph doesn’t play, he doesn’t want to play,” Gobert said according to Dane Moore.
“I did whatever I could to keep my cool and then show that I wasn’t making the situation worse, and I do hope that the league is going to do what needs to be done because that’s just clown behavior. Not much to say. It’s clown behavior.”
In explaining Green’s five-game suspension, the league cited his track record of unsportsmanlike behavior.
“The length of the suspension is based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts,” a press release from the NBA read.
Green will begin serving his suspension on Thursday, Nov. 16 when the Warriors host the OKC Thunder.
Throughout his NBA career, Green has faced a total of five suspensions, with his latest being the first instance of a multi-game suspension.
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Edited by Abigail Kevichusa