Report: Draymond Green's Suspension Came After He Told Kevin Durant The Warriors Didn't Need Him

The Golden State Warriors decided to hand Draymond Green a one-game suspension without pay because during his argument with Kevin Durant, he invited the two-time finals MVP to leave after the season was over since the team had already won a title before Durant’s arrival, according to a report from Yahoo’s Chris Haynes.

Green called Durant a “bitch” multiple times, sources said. In a summarized version, sources said Green shouted, “You’re a bitch and you know you’re a bitch.” The rhetoric, sources said, continued even when Kerr attempted to direct the team’s attention to his whiteboard.

But what ultimately led to Green’s suspension, sources said, was a remark in which he dared Durant to bolt in free agency next summer. Durant has a player option for the 2019-20 season, and the Warriors want their superteam intact for the opening of their new arena, the Chase Center, in San Francisco next season.

Green blurted to Durant something along the lines of, “We don’t need you. We won without you. Leave,” sources said.

The report then goes on to mention that while the reason for Green’s suspension was specifically listed as “conduct detrimental to the team,” the bigger concern for the Warriors was understandably how the comments affected their chances of re-signing the former MVP in the summer. (It also completely ignores the hilarity of Steve Kerr trying to get this historically-great team of superstars to pay attention to the play he’s drawing up while Green keeps yelling “bitch” at Durant, but that’s beside the point.)

It was by no means a consensus, but some speculation had already suggested that Green’s comments had to cross some sort of boundary regarding Durant’s future with the team to warrant his punishment. It also should surprise no one that the Warriors would very much like to keep Durant. But just knowing for a fact that Golden State was willing to suspend a three-time All-Star, and former defensive player of the year, to appease another superstar on the team is a bit jarring. One has to wonder what Green’s reaction would have been if somebody had told him that the superstar he’d call after his team’s Game 7 loss in the finals would ultimately get prioritized over him.