Draymond Green will not be at Oracle Arena tonight as the Golden State Warriors attempt to close out the Cleveland Cavaliers. Still, Green will be nearby, as Marc Spears of ESPN has reported that Green will watch the game from a suite at the neighboring Oakland Coliseum — home of the Oakland Athletics and Oakland Raiders.
Suspended Warrior Draymond Green is expected to watch Game 5 of the Finals from a suite in the Coliseum at the next door A's game, source.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) June 13, 2016
ESPN’s Marc Stein later clarified that while Draymond has to be out of Oracle two hours before the start of tonight’s game, he is as allowed to celebrate with his team, should they clinch the championship tonight.
At least that makes sense, because nothing else does. Whether Green should have been suspended or not can be debated. But even if we take at face value that the suspension is 100 percent justified, there’s no reason to say that he can’t be in the arena. The bench? Maybe. But it’s hard to see how a suspended player staying in the locker room or sitting in a suite within the arena would be such a problem.
Fortunately for Green and the people who run the Oakland Coliseum, the A’s are home tonight as they host the Texas Rangers. So, him going to a suite there is a pretty natural solution to a rather Draconian rule.
Although it worked out okay here, the NBA should take this chance to revisit this rule. What would they do if the A’s were on the road and the stadium was otherwise unoccupied? Would they open a suite up just for one guy? What would the solution be if Warriors didn’t have a fellow professional sports team playing within just a few steps of their arena, or if the team was on the road in a potential clinch game?
Keeping Draymond Green off of the court is harsh enough. Keeping him completely out of the arena is just foolish.