NBA Suspends Green Five Games

Two days after the November 14, 2023 Warriors–Timberwolves skirmish, the NBA issued an official ruling. In a November 16 release, the league announced: “Green has been suspended five games without pay for escalating an on-court altercation and forcibly grabbing Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert around the neck in an unsportsmanlike and dangerous manner.” The statement added: “The length of the suspension is based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts.” The update also detailed $25,000 fines for Rudy Gobert, Klay Thompson, and Jaden McDaniels for their roles in the incident [1]. The language underscored both the severity of the act—described as “forcibly grabbing” around the neck—and the impact of Green’s prior record on the penalty’s duration. The release arrived amid heavy coverage of the events from November 14, when Green was ejected alongside Thompson and McDaniels after grabbing Gobert from behind in a headlock 1:40 into the first quarter at Chase Center [2]. The official sanction made the feud’s most visible chapter a matter of record, moving it beyond social-media and postgame quotes into the realm of league discipline and missed games for Golden State [1][2].

The suspension formalized the consequences of the feud’s most serious on-court moment and tied Green’s penalty directly to both the act against Gobert and his prior disciplinary history [1]. That framing elevated the Green–Gobert storyline from a public back-and-forth to a decision with real competitive impact: five missed games for Golden State and fines for other participants [1]. The league’s wording became a key citation in future retellings, anchoring the narrative with official terminology—"forcibly grabbing" and “unsportsmanlike and dangerous manner”—and making clear that the NBA viewed the act as more than routine scuffling [1][2].

Ten days later, on November 26, 2023, Draymond Green told reporters, “I don’t live my life with regrets... I’ll come to a teammate’s defense any time that I’m in a position to come to a teammate’s defense,” presenting the headlock as an act of loyalty to Klay Thompson rather than a personal attack on Gobert [3]. In the same news cycle around the altercation, Gobert’s postgame framing—calling the act "clown behavior" and suggesting Green gets ejected when Stephen Curry sits—continued to circulate [2]. The NBA’s decision and the subsequent statements hardened the lines of the feud’s narratives: institutional censure from the league, a loyalty-based justification from Green, and critical commentary from Gobert [1][3][2].