Following several bans this season, Draymond Green’s problems only get worse: due to on-court misconduct, the forward for the Golden State Warriors was not selected for Team USA for the Olympics this year.
Tuesday saw the original 41-man USA Basketball team for Paris 2024 named, led by LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant. Green was conspicuously absent from the group, raising concerns about the extent to which his suspensions had contributed.
The choice to leave out Green is especially intriguing because Steve Kerr, the head coach of Golden State who will once more captain Team USA in Paris, was almost certainly engaged in any decision made.
Green will have to watch from home this time around despite being a member of the last two Olympic gold medal winning teams in Rio and Tokyo. It will provide him the chance to be ready for the upcoming NBA season with the intention of continuing to reward Golden State for their recent faith. After choking Rudy Gobert, the former Defensive Player of the Year was first suspended for five games. However, his hit on Jusuf Nurkic earned him an indefinite suspension, which led to a 16-game punishment.
With veteran point-guard Chris Paul the only other Warrior picked in the preliminary group, Curry is likely to make his Olympic debut and bring the national team back into action after a nearly 10-year sabbatical.
After the loss of cherished assistant coach Dejan Milojević, Golden State made their court comeback on Wednesday night, and Green played a big part in the team’s 134-112 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
In any given game, individual plus-minus can be deceptive, but in Draymond Green’s instance against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, it served as an excellent representation of the veteran forward’s worth. Even though LeBron James and Stephen Curry, who combined for 82 points in the thrilling double overtime game, stole the show, you could argue that Draymond Green was the most crucial player on the court (at least in regulation).
In his almost 46 minutes, Green finished as a +31, which is quite remarkable. Without the former Defensive Player of the Year, the Warriors fell to -32 in less than 12 minutes. Given that Green had appeared to gain nothing during his ban and that this was only his fourth game back after a 16-game layoff, his significance is even more remarkable. The 33-year-old is acting as though he owes his team, and given that the absence was self-inflicted, it makes sense. Although Green’s three-ball performance wasn’t as good as it has been this season (0-of-4), he still left his mark on the game in other ways.
The four-time All-Star finished with eight points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists, three steals, and two blocks. It was a standard Green boxscore. On the offensive end, he consistently organised plays with the appropriate reads, while on the defensive end, he consistently created difficulties for Anthony Davis.
