PHOENIX — The NBA is suspending Warriors forward Draymond Green five games for his choke hold on Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert during the first quarter of the Timberwolves’ win over the Warriors on Tuesday, the league announced Wednesday.
In addition, the league is fining Gobert, Wolves forward Jaden McDaniels and Warriors guard Klay Thompson $25,000 each for their role in the scuffle that broke out near the start of Tuesday’s game.
During the altercation between Thompson and McDaniels, Green grabbed Gobert around the neck, and Gobert attempted to pull Thompson away from McDaniels.
He dragged him toward the Warriors bench as Timberwolves players like Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards and even Warriors coach Steve Kerr tried to get him to stop. In announcing the suspension, the league said Green acted in an “unsportsmanlike and dangerous manner.”
Gobert, however, wasn’t satisfied with the league’s ruling and he strongly disagreed with the NBA’s decision to fine him. That decision comes after officiating crew chief Tyler Ford told a pool reporter following Tuesday’s game that the officials agreed that Gobert had acted as a “peacemaker” in the fracas.
“You know every situation is different, but to me that was more than just a reaction,” Gobert said after Wednesday’s loss to the Suns. “That was a personal attack. Me being fined when I chose to, when I was being a peacemaker and I chose to keep my hands up while I was being assaulted, is shameful. Shameful. And I’m gonna appeal that fine.”
But the league at least slightly disagreed with that sentiment in also assessing him a fine for his involvement. ESPN reported Green will lose approximately $770,000 while serving his suspension.
After Tuesday’s game, Gobert said Green’s actions were “clown behavior.”
“Clown behavior, and I’m proud of myself for being the bigger man again and again,” Gobert said after Tuesday’s game. “And yeah, [Green] doesn’t even deserve me putting my hands on him. My team needed me tonight. 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.”