Draymond Green, a four-time NBA All-Star and the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year, played a key role in the Golden State Warriors dynasty of the 2010s.
In recent years, however, Green has mostly drawn headlines for less positive news. Frequently the subject of on-court disputes, both verbal and physical and involving both fellow NBA players and officials, Green has been fined around $900,000 in his career and has missed out on more than $3 million in salary due to his numerous suspensions.
Most notably, Green received an indefinite suspension from the league last December and ultimately missed 12 games.
While that’s certainly a fair bit of money, even for a player who averages a salary of $25 million a year on his current deal and has career earnings that exceed $250 million, it’s not financially devastating, by any means.
Green would beg to differ, however. On a recent appearance on “The Big Podcast” with Shaq,
“The fines to me don’t make sense,” Green said. “When you talk about as hard as we work to accumulate wealth, coming from situations that most people never make it out, and then you get fined the way we get fined, it’s actually not set up for us to be wealthy after we’re done playing.
“This job is not set up, the way we’re taxed, the way we’re fined… if I do something wrong, I lose $100,000. It took my mom four years when I was growing up to make $100,000. And I lose that in a night because what? The referee got mad at me, and he didn’t like what I said to him. So I lose $5,000 like that? Like, on a tech?”
“It’s actually not set up for us to be wealthy after we’re done playing.”
-Draymond Green on the NBA’s fines 👀💰 pic.twitter.com/9vCrSc5htm
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) May 24, 2024
Ignoring the obvious discrepancy in the amount of money Green’s malfeasance has cost him compared to what he’s made as a professional basketball player, his complaint neglects to acknowledge one important fact: No one is forcing him to draw fines.
And not all of his fines have stemmed from verbal altercations with officials, either, despite what he said in the clip. His indefinite suspension was the result of him striking Suns center Jusuf Nurkic, and he was suspended five games by the league a month prior when he was involved in a brawl that led to him putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold.
Players struggling to maintain their wealth after their retirement from professional sports is not a new concept, and it’s a very real problem that is worth considering. But it’s hard to sympathize with Green, one of the most highly-paid NBA players of the last decade who continues to put himself in poor positions due to his own decisions.
