Years of incidents both on and off the basketball court have finally caught up with Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green. It was announced Tuesday that Green would not be part of Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Green’s suspension history played a role in the decision according to men’s national team managing director Grant Hill.
“We all understand, and certainly have great respect and sensitivity to this particular period in his career, and he’s working through some things both on and off the court,” Hill said. “We at USA Basketball, we want to support him on his journey. We just didn’t feel that playing over the summer gives him the best opportunity to do what he needs to do.”
This was going to be Green’s last opportunity to play in the Olympics since he’ll be 34 in March. It’s hard to imagine him still being at that level in four years. Green will more than likely be retired from professional basketball by then. All the antics, dustups and all-out brawls have finally come back to haunt the former Defensive Player of the Year winner.
Green brought all this on himself, so no one is going to feel sorry for him missing the Olympics this summer. But there’s also something to be said for players being allowed so much leeway during NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s time in office. The player empowerment movement, as it’s been called, really gained steam once Silver took over 10 years ago.
Silver subbed in for David Stern and his first big act was to rid the league of former Clippers owner, Donald Sterling. This was something players around the league, including those on the team, backed as Sterling was known for being a jackass. He just hadn’t been caught in the act and put on blast for the world to witness [or hear] like he was by his girlfriend at the time. Surely, we all have feelings about that entire ordeal but how Silver reacted is what got our attention.
Looking back, it all went down rather quickly, as Sterling was banned and forced to sell the organization. Just like that, the player-friendly commissioner era had begun after so many years of Stern’s reign where he ruled with an iron fist. Over time, players got more and more comfortable. The relationship between this generation of NBA players with Silver is night and day compared to that of his predecessor.
Ultimately, it’s good for both parties, but one can’t help but wonder if so much freedom turned into grounds for players to run amuck. This isn’t meant to absolve Green of any wrongdoing because he’s the one who chose violence, figuratively speaking (and literally at times), and carried on wilding out on numerous occasions.
You have to wonder if things would have been a little different had Silver chosen to keep it business instead of seemingly befriending the stars of his league. It always felt like Silver wanted them to accept him as more than just the guy who runs the league. Different regimes and eras will never be exactly the same, but Silver went all the way to the other end of the spectrum from Stern.
That doesn’t mean Stern’s way was always best because he could overreact at times or go too hard and too heavy with punishments. Considering Stern’s style of “tough love,” he may have nipped the Draymond issue in the bud long ago. One long, harsh suspension instead of all these smaller ones over the years may have prevented some of what we’ve seen recently with Green.
There is no perfect way to run any of these leagues and manage people. With different personalities will come a multitude of issues ranging in significance. As wild as Green has been sometimes, most of his indiscretions have happened on the court. Sure, he had the social media incident where a private photo of his was “leaked” or the time he was arrested in Michigan for allegedly punching a guy. Again, he doesn’t get a pass for those incidents, but for the most part, Green’s foolishness has been within the confines of an NBA arena.
Regardless of how and why, here we are now, and it looks like Green is slowly having things stripped away. If it wasn’t for Stephen Curry in Golden State, they would’ve moved on from him following his knockout punch of Jordan Poole. But that’s what’s probably coming soon.
Green’s departure from the franchise he’s won four rings with as part of their core group. Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s pretty much impossible to put it back. It’ll be hard for the Warriors to continue turning a blind eye to Green’s outbursts, especially with him hitting his mid-30s.
