NEW YORK — The NBA suspended Golden State’s Draymond Green for five games for grabbing Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert around the neck “in an unsportsmanlike and dangerous manner,” the league said Wednesday night.
Also penalized by the league for their roles in the incident, which happened early in Tuesday’s game between the Timberwolves and Warriors, were Gobert, his Minnesota teammate Jaden McDaniels and Golden State guard Klay Thompson – all fined $25,000 by the league.
McDaniels and Thompson were both ejected from the game, as was Green.
But Green will pay the biggest price, both in terms of games missed and money lost. The suspension will cause him to forfeit $769,704 in salary.
“The length of the suspension is based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts,” the NBA said in the release announcing the penalties. Those sanctions were handed down by Joe Dumars, the NBA’s Executive Vice President and Head of Basketball Operations – and a longtime mentor of Green’s.
The game was scoreless when Thompson and Daniels started shoving, pulling at each other’s jerseys while swinging each other around as they moved down the court. Gobert rushed in and wrapped his arms around Thompson. Green swooped in and pulled Gobert away from behind with his arm around the center’s neck. Green refused to let go of Gobert, despite what looked like pleas from Warriors Coach Steve Kerr.
Gobert, who said he was trying to “de-escalate the situation” by pulling Thompson away from the fracas, called Green’s actions “clown behavior.”
76ERS: Philadelphia police said they have yet to find any videotape evidence of an alleged hit-and-run accident involving 76ers guard Kelly Oubre.
In an email to The Associated Press, Officer Miguel Torres said there was no update and an investigation is ongoing into the report that the 27-year-old Oubre was struck by a car while crossing a street on Saturday night in downtown Philadelphia, leaving the player with a broken rib, cuts and lacerations.
“No video has been recovered,” Torres said in his email.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported police department spokesman Sgt. Eric Gripp said that surveillance footage recovered so far showed “no evidence that a crash occurred at the Center City intersection where Oubre reported being hit on Saturday night.”
Asked about the report and the validity of Oubre’s story before Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Celtics, 76ers Coach Nick Nurse said that Oubre was at the team’s practice facility in Camden, New Jersey, both Tuesday and Wednesday and he backed his player.
“I don’t think it’s very fair to him to say that he made up some story,” Nurse said. “I just don’t. I’m going to believe him at his word. He’s one of our players and we’re going to stand behind him. And so am I.”
When asked why he believed Oubre’s story, Nurse said, “I don’t have any reason not to believe him.”
FRAUD CONVICTIONS: Former Boston Celtics players Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Will Bynum were convicted by a New York jury on Wednesday in a scheme that prosecutors say defrauded an insurance plan for NBA players and their families of more than $5 million.
More than 20 people have been convicted in the case, many of them onetime NBA players who submitted fictitious dental and medical claims to the NBA Players’ Health and Benefit Welfare Plan. Terrence Williams, a 2009 first-round draft pick of the New Jersey Nets, was sentenced in August to a decade in prison as a ringleader of the scheme.
Prosecutors said doctors and dentists working with the players created fraudulent invoices that were submitted to the supplemental insurance plan for reimbursement.
Davis, 37, was a member of the Celtics’ 2008 NBA championship team during an eight-year pro career for Boston, Orlando and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bynum, 40, played parts of four seasons with the Nets, Rockets, Kings and Celtics.
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
MAVERICKS 130, WIZARDS 117: Luka Doncic scored 26 points and had 10 assists as Dallas eased to a victory at Washington.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 31 points and sank seven 3-pointers for the Mavericks on a night when point guard Kyrie Irving sat out because of a sprained left foot.
BUCKS 128, RAPTORS 112: Damian Lillard had 37 points and a season-high 13 assists, Malik Beasley scored a season-high 30 points, and Milwaukee overcame Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence to win at Toronto.
Antetokounmpo missed his first game of the season after playing the first 10, sitting out because of a strained right calf.
KNICKS 116, HAWKS 114: Jalen Brunson scored 24 points, including a pull-up jumper from the top of the lane with 18.8 seconds remaining, and New York held on for a victory in Atlanta.
Julius Randle led the Knicks with 29 points, while the Hawks didn’t get much out of their guard duo of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. Young had 15 points and Murray was held to 13.
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