Snarling defender and incurable “bad boy”: who is Draymond Green, the “clown” who strangled Rudy Gobert

2023-11-15 17:53:34

The scene is astonishing, shameful. We have been playing for 1 minute and 47 seconds in San Francisco, a regular season NBA match won by the visitors (104-101) between the Golden State Warriors and Rudy Gobert’s Minnesota Timberwolves, authors of a great start to the season. Suddenly, Jaden McDaniels (Minnesota) and Klay Thompson (Golden State) come to blows after grabbing each other’s jerseys. Rudy Gobert intervenes to separate them. “I tried to calm the situation between Jaden and Klay,” explained Rudy Gobert afterwards. I wanted to make sure the situation wasn’t going to get worse and I tried to separate them.”

???? The image of the night: Draymond Green’s strangulation of Rudy Gobert!

At the start, a clash between Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels. Their teammates get involved, Gobert comes to separate… but Green grabs him by the neck!

Result ? Three expulsions (Klay, McDaniels, Green). pic.twitter.com/XaCUWym0Ip

— Basket USA ???? (@basketusa) November 15, 2023

Suddenly, a fury gets angry behind the Frenchman’s back and grabs him by the throat to strangle him. The madman’s name is Draymond Green. For a good twenty seconds, in the middle of the crush, the inside of the Warriors does not release its prey. The gesture is dangerous, useless, indefensible, lamentable. Gobert does not flinch and does not defend himself so as not to inflame the situation. He ends up sitting on the ground. “I felt someone grab me by the neck,” continues the three-time All Star. Right away, I said to myself: “I’m not going to fight because my team needs me.” So I put my hands in the air to show the referees that I wasn’t doing anything and waited for the situation to end. I tried everything to stay calm and show that I didn’t want to make the situation worse.”

A visceral hatred for Gobert

Barely calmed down, Green is expelled immediately. He is awaiting a sanction which should be heavy: a large fine and a suspension of several matches. For the same type of gesture a few years ago, Chris Paul, his current teammate at the Warriors, was fined 500,000 euros and suspended 10 games. “He behaved like a clown,” regrets Gobert. I hope the league makes decisions because this is behavior that is not acceptable. »

This isn’t the first time these two have fallen out. Draymond Green hates the Frenchman amid rivalry over who is the best defender in the League. It started in 2018 when the former Utah Jazz pivot was elected best defender in the NBA for the first time, a trophy that Green held at the time. The American, who considers himself one of the best defenders of all time, cannot digest that Gobert steals “his” trophy. It doesn’t get better when Rudy Gobert triples the stakes in 2019 and 2021 under his helpless and sulky gaze.

Green room Gobert, as usual (Sports/Sipa USA – Photo Icon sport) SUSA / Icon Sport

Champion of trash-talking, this annoying habit which consists of provoking or insulting one’s opponent, the inside of Golden State takes revenge as soon as the opportunity presents itself. In 2019, not selected for the All Star Game, Rudy Gobert let his grief burst forth by shedding a few tears in front of the cameras. The first to make fun of it, calling him a “weeper”, is Green who also does not tolerate being compared to the French giant. “Don’t stop mentioning me in the same sentence as him. We don’t look alike, we have nothing in common,” he insists as soon as we talk to him about his rival. Gobert never responded to him, neither by words nor by actions.

The most sanctioned player in the NBA

Draymond Green is also a player with a very impressive record. Standing at 1m98 and with his number 23, two points that he shares with Michael Jordan, the Michigan native (33 years old), who spent his first eleven career seasons with the Warriors, is a 4-time NBA champion (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022), double Olympic champion with Team USA in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, four times All Star and therefore once elected best NBA defender of the year.

But today he is also the “bad boy” of the League. The power forward is the most frequently punished active player in the entire NBA. This November 14, he was sent off for the 18th time in his career. Four days earlier, in Cleveland, for less serious matters, he took 2 technical fouls synonymous with a premature return to the locker room against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since his debut, the man has collected 165 technical fouls, a current record.

All that doesn’t stop Warriors fans from loving him, though. Aware that with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, he forms one of the most effective tridents in the NBA, the California franchise has just extended him for 4 years for $100 million. Forgetting that just a year ago he punched a training partner, Jordan Poole. The two men were never able to play together again and Poole moved to Washington. Calming the beast is also useless. Saturday, after his previous expulsion, he lost his temper (again). “You all need to know how stupid you look trying to tell me how to be me.” If you had advice for your own life, the world would be a much better place and you would be much better at your job.”