Former Miami Heat big man Udonis Haslem said that Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green is out of pocket for all of his antics recently, with the most recent being a strike to Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic’s face.
“Draymond, man, you’re out of pocket,” Haslem said on the first episode of a new show from Playmaker. “You’re out of pocket. I f— with Draymond, man. There’s only so many warriors in this league, guys that are going to take that tech, going to take that foul, and protect their teammates. But we don’t start that s—. We don’t start it. We ain’t bullies. We don’t look for it. We don’t initiate it. We are guys that prevent it. We are guys that protect our teammates. So, man, I got a lot of respect for Draymond man. But right now, Draymond tripping.”
Haslem also went on to say that Green is only targeting players that he knows won’t retaliate.
“People think he’s crazy. I think he’s smart. Because he knows who he’s [messing] with,” Haslem said. “He choked out [Rudy] Gobert, he hit Nurkic. He’s [messing with] people who really aren’t going to do nothing back.”
Green was ejected in the third quarter of Golden State’s matchup against the Suns after he hit Nurkic in the face. The NBA subsequently announced that he will be suspended indefinitely.
Before he exited the game, Green tallied two points, two rebounds and two assists while shooting 1-of-3 from the field across 17 minutes of play.
The 33-year-old picked an inopportune time to receive an indefinite suspension. The Warriors have gotten off to a slow start to the 2023-24 regular season, as they own the 11th-best record in the Western Conference at 12-14.
Plus, the team is two-and-a-half games back of the Houston Rockets for the No. 9 seed in the conference and three games back of the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 8 seed, meaning the Warriors need to string together some wins in order to get back in the Western Conference playoff picture.
Interestingly though, the Warriors have played relatively well ever since arguably their best defensive player received a suspension. The team is 2-1 since losing to the Suns nearly a week ago. Their wins have come against the Brooklyn Nets and Portland Trail Blazers, while their lone loss during this span was against the Los Angeles Clippers, who are riding a seven-game winning streak.
But the Warriors’ winning streak is in jeopardy of coming to an end on Tuesday. The Warriors will host the Boston Celtics, who are sitting pretty in the Eastern Conference standings with a league-best 20-5 record.
Golden State fans should be excited for the team’s upcoming matchup against Boston, as it will be a great test for the Warriors and will show how they stack up against arguably the best team in the NBA right now.
After taking on the Celtics at home, the Warriors will then host Jordan Poole and the Washington Wizards on Dec. 22. This game projects to be more winnable for the Warriors, as the Wizards have won just four games since the start of the 2023-24 regular season.