LOS ANGELES — Draymond Green is facing a one-game suspension after picking up his 16th technical foul of the season Wednesday.
Green was slapped with a technical at the 40.8-second mark of the second quarter of Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers after he appeared to throw the basketball at Russell Westbrook’s head after Ivica Zubac’s basket.
Paul George made the free throw to put the Clippers up 59-54.
Moments later, there was a tense moment between Green and Marcus Morris Sr. on the other end of the floor. Green was boxing out Morris when the Clippers forward appeared to shove Green down from behind.
Morris was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game. Green, who had six points, five assists and four rebounds in the first half, buried the free throw to pull within one of the Clippers.
Green picked up his 15th technical foul on Feb. 13, but the Warriors had remained confident that their loud star would be able to avoid a one-game suspension.
“I’ve never said one word to Draymond, and he’s never gone over the limit,” coach Steve Kerr said last week in Memphis. “He always comes right up to the edge and then he stops. He knows how valuable he is, I don’t have to say anything to him. He knows that he can’t get that next one — we need him.”
But it appears the heat of the moment on Wednesday got to Green.
If the league doesn’t rescind his latest technical foul in the next 24 hours then he’ll be suspended for the Warriors’ game in Atlanta on Friday, per NBA rules. That would leave the Warriors’ with just nine players to go up against the Hawks unless Golden State decides to fill its 15th roster spot before then.
It’s also noteworthy that any other technical foul Green gets over the last 13 games would cost him a $5,000 fine, and every two technical fouls at this point would lead to a one-game suspension.
Draymond Green receives a tech for this sequence against the Clippers 👀
This is his 16th technical foul, which means that he will be suspended for the Warriors’ next game on Friday against the Hawks 😳
Is this a good call or a bad call?pic.twitter.com/I0mSevjLwN
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 16, 2023
