What stands out about Draymond Green’s latest transgression, a spinning smack of Jusuf Nurkić’s face, is that it was so obviously unnecessary. Green’s Warriors led Phoenix by five early in the second half of a December game. Green was fighting for position with his back to the basket, which was around 18 feet away. Golden State’s Brandin Podziemski had not even inbounded the ball yet, and when he did, he passed it to Klay Thompson.
The problem for the Warriors is that Green seems convinced that everything he does is necessary. He built his whole career on being the toughest, smartest player on the court—and he believed those qualities could carry him when very few other people did. So when Rudy Gobert tussles with Thompson, Green thinks he has to be the enforcer. When Nurkić has a hand on his hip, Green thinks he has to sell a foul. When Jordan Poole poses any kind of threat to his value, real or imagined, Green won’t let it slide. Extracting the excessive violence from his game is like extracting spice from a bowl of chili.
You might think that, after all these incidents, somebody as intelligent as Green would learn his lesson. In a general sense, he can. He knows he was wrong for punching Poole, and he has blamed himself for the Warriors losing the 2016 Finals to the Cavaliers. (Green was suspended for Game 5.) But in the moment, on the court, Green fails to differentiate between what gets him in trouble and what will probably get him to the Hall of Fame.
