Draymond Green knew that he was in deep shit at the postgame conference.

He knew that after getting thrown out of the game for hitting Jufus Nurkic, the third violent on-court outburst that’s led to an ejection this calendar year, that he was cooked. You could even see it in his face while the officials reviewed the incident.

It was so obvious that Green knew he was in trouble when he uncharacteristically apologized to Nurkic in the post-game press conference. He attempted to salvage his reputation in front of the media by saying he was just trying to sell a foul, which isn’t believable because the replay shows that he had a split second to look at Nurkic and knew where his arm would end up as he swung it.

Green wasn’t even apologetic after he choked Rudy Gobert a month ago, which was arguably a more dangerous act than what he did to Nurkic. The apology showed his assessment of the situation, and that he knew the hammer was going to come down hard on him.

When the Gobert incident happened, Green went the other way with his comments. He said that he didn’t live his life with regret and that he took pride in being a good teammate. In his head, at least, he was doing the right thing by choking the Frenchman in the midst of a scuffle that he wasn’t even originally involved with.

The NBA showed that Green had a reason to be worried when they announced an indefinite suspension for the 33-year-old forward. After already suspending Green for five games after what he did to Gobert, the league has now mandated that he gets counselling and meets criteria set out by both the NBA and the Golden State Warriors before he is allowed to return to the court.

‘Indefinite’ is an ominous word for Green. This isn’t like last year, when Ja Morant got an indefinite suspension for flashing a gun on Instagram and ended up being allowed to play again after missing less than 10 games. As the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver knows that he can’t get egg thrown on his face again after Morant pulled off another gun stunt that necessitated a 25-game ban.

Green’s history will not work in his favor. If we look at 2023, he’s already been involved in three violent incident that necessitated an ejection and suspension. There was the stomp on Domantas Sabonis’ chest in Game 2 of their matchup against the Sacramento Kings in the playoffs, the previously mentioned incident with Gobert and now the attack on Jurkic. That doesn’t even take into account the suplex that he got away with pulling on Terance Mann.

All eyes are now on the NBA to see how they handle the Green situation and Silver sure as hell knows it. This is the kind of headache that the NBA doesn’t need after pulling off a successful In-Season Tournament that had positive reactions from the majority of the media and fanbase. 

The spotlight will also go to the Warriors, who as an organization have coddled Green and kept him unaccountable for his behavior over the years. Steve Kerr even said that he didn’t see the replay again when asked about the Jurkic incident. I mean come on, who’s he kidding? Does he just never see replays of when his players do something wrong?

The Warriors are on the end of their dynastic run and even though they won the title in 2022, their core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Green is on its last legs. Their future is in question after those three finish their careers seeing as their projected future core of Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman and Moses Moody didn’t work out. Poole and Wiseman are already out of the organization and there’s no doubt that the former’s exit from the team was heavily influenced by him getting punched in the face at practice by Green. 

For all of the good things that Green brings to the court like his playmaking, defensive acumen and leadership on both ends of the floor, he has now become a problem that isn’t going to be solved easily. Green has been emboldened to act the way he does because of the unflinching support that the Warriors have given him over the years. When you haven’t been held accountable, at least publicly, why wouldn’t you feel entitled to act in any way you want?

It will be interesting to see how the Warriors approach the situation. After coddling Green for years, they may now be forced to acknowledge that he has become dangerous to his team’s title contention hopes. It was much easier for the fans and media to ignore Green’s antics when they were winning titles and making it to the NBA Finals for five straight years. Now, with the team in decline and Curry being the only one still playing like a superstar, all of the cracks are beginning to show.

There’s no way that Curry, who is entering the twilight of his career, is going to happily waste his remaining elite years while putting up with distractions like this suspension. He’s been carrying the Warriors so hard this season that it’s shocking that his back hasn’t broken yet. His splash brother sure isn’t pulling his weight and Andrew Wiggins has also pulled a disappearing act.

As of now, things don’t look good for the Warriors. Even when Green makes his return, the question will be whether or not he’ll be able to thrive while no longer having the leeway that he’s enjoyed over the years.

Things have come a long way since Green riled up the Sacramento crowd after stomping on Sabonis in the playoffs. He may have felt an air of invincibility then, but that’s now gone. It seems like the league, fans, and media have finally lost their patience with him and it’s about damn time.

For his sake, I hope Green realizes this and changes for the better. The smart money says that he won’t.