When the Golden State Warriors opted not to suspend Draymond Green and just fined him instead for punching Jordan Poole, a lot of people questioned their thinking behind the decision. After all, when Green had a shouting match with Kevin Durant back in 2018, the team did slap their vocal forward with a one-game suspension.
According to Warriors owner Joe Lacob, however, things are quite different this time since they had to consider the situation: the Dubs have their ring ceremony in the season opener, and so suspending Green would mean he wouldn't be available for the special moment. Not to mention that it could very put a damper on what should have been a night filled with joy and celebration.
“He earned this [ring ceremony]. I wouldn't take that away from him,” Lacob said.
The Warriors owner did emphasize that they took the matter seriously contrary to what many are thinking over Draymond Green's non-suspension. For one, he said that they punished him with the “maximum” fine.
Joe Lacob also acknowledged that Green has plenty of “repair work” to do in order to regain the trust of Jordan Poole and the rest of his Warriors teammates.
For what it's worth, Lacob's admission corroborates the earlier reporting of Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN where he said that the Warriors put a lot of significance on the fact on their ring night when deciding not to suspend Green. Woj added that the Dubs would have suspended Dray had the scuffle happened mid-season.
It does look like the Warriors are ready to move on and leave the incident behind. Sure enough, it begins in their ring night where they will also hope to start their title defense with a bang.
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