Draymond Green coming off the bench for the Warriors in Game 4 against the Kings was actually his idea.
The Warriors forward — who served a one-game suspension in Game 3 for stepping on the chest of Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis in Game 2 — said he suggested coming off the bench and never wants to have a sense of “entitlement” to his starting spot.
“I saw it was working and we won [Game 3],” Green said after the Warriors defeated the Kings on Sunday, 126-125, to even the series at 2-2. “I’m a firm believer in, if something isn’t broke, you don’t fix it. Our offense was rolling and we played really good defensively [in Game 3].
“I didn’t want to come back and just shake things up because I’m back. That’s not right. Jordan [Poole] went out there, he played well, we played well. He earned it. Our team earned that.
“There’s a lot of guys who start to feel a sense of entitlement like that spot’s yours. I never want to reach that point in my career where I feel entitled to something. Those guys don’t fare well in the end.”
Green said it wasn’t hard for him to forfeit his starting spot in Game 4 after studying how well Golden State played in Game 3’s 114-97 victory without him.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Green approached him soon after Game 3 and suggested that he should come off the bench.
He entered the game for Kevon Looney with 6:38 remaining in the first quarter.
The NBA announced Green’s suspension on Tuesday, a day after he was ejected in the fourth quarter of Golden State’s 114-106 loss to Sacramento in Game 2 at Golden 1 Center.
With 7:03 remaining in the fourth quarter, Green stepped on Sabonis’ chest after the Kings center grabbed and held onto Green’s right ankle after falling to the floor.
Green received a Flagrant 2 foul while Sabonis was assessed a technical foul.
Joe Dumars, Executive Vice President and Head of Basketball Operations for the NBA, said the suspension was based in large part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts.
The four-time NBA champion previously served a one-game suspension by the NBA in March after picking up his 16th technical foul of the season — which he received for tossing the ball at Russell Westbrook’s head during a 134-126 road loss to the Clippers.
When Green returned to action in the first-round Western Conference playoff series on Sunday, he received a technical less than a minute on the floor following a heated exchange with Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox.
Fox was also whistled for a technical as the two were seen chirping back and forth.
Green finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists in 31 minutes off the bench.
Game 5 shifts to Sacramento on Wednesday.