Draymond Green was excluded from the United States basketball team’s provisional list of 41 players for the Paris Olympic Games due to the suspensions he faced this season, the team’s executive director, Grant Hill, announced this Wednesday (24). The 33-year-old received a five-game suspension from the NBA in November for assaulting Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert before being suspended indefinitely in December for an incident involving Phoenix Suns forward Jusuf Nurkić. Green was reinstated in January after serving a 12-game suspension.
++ United States defines players to participate in the Summer Olympics
Grant Hill told reporters, according to ESPN: “His contributions have been significant, and he’s a real part of the legacy of this organization for his excellence. But I think because of what happened this year, we made the decision not to have him. on this list at this particular point in the process. We all understand and certainly have great respect and sensitivity for this particular period of his career, and he is working on some things on and off the court. We at USA Basketball wanted to support him in his journey and we just didn’t feel like calling him up would give him the best opportunity to do what he needs to do.”
As part of his latest suspension, Green was required to “comply with certain league and team conditions before returning to play.”
According to the NBA, Draymond Green has attended meetings with an advisor and met on multiple occasions with representatives from the league, the Warriors and the Players Association, and will continue to do so throughout the season. Green is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, topping the podium with Team USA at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
