Merry Christmas to all. It’s a day for family, opening presents, comforting food, and watching “Elf” on a loop.
It’s also the unofficial start of the NBA season for many fans across the nation, and the league has lined up a slate of five star-studded, high-profile games to get people into the NBA spirit… except, we’re more than a third of the way into the NBA season already. A lot has happened.
For those of you waking up Christmas morning and taking a serious look at the NBA for the first time this season, let’s answer your questions and catch everyone up on what has happened so far.
Why is Draymond Green suspended again? What is going on with the Warriors?
This season has felt like the end of the Warriors championship era — they are raging against the dying of that light, but it feels like the sun is setting on this era. Draymond Green getting suspended is just another symptom.
Green has been suspended indefinitely for a blow to the face of Phoenix’s Jusuf Nurkic.
What led to the league coming down this hard was it was not Green’s first suspension this season — he missed five games after putting Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert in a chokehold and dragging him down the court — and all season Green felt like he was on tilt. Playing with an edge made Green a champion and future Hall of Famer, but this season he’s felt more gimmick than focused player.
The Warriors are 15-14 on the season and sit as the No. 10 seed in the West — if the postseason started today they would be on the road for the play-in games. Stephen Curry has been nothing short of brilliant — 28.3 points per game and shooting 42.1% from 3, looking like he could end up on the MVP ballot at times — but the supporting cast is not living up to that standard. Green is suspended, Andrew Wiggins (the biggest issue, for my money) has played so poorly that he was moved to the bench, and Klay Thompson is not consistently the same shot creator or defender he was prior to his injuries (torn ACL and Achilles). Steve Kerr has had to lean into 21-year-old Jonathan Kuminga and rookie Brandin Podziemski. The result is a Warriors team that can show flashes of…
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