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What Happened To Draymond Green? 4x Champ Leaves Shorthanded Warriors Mid-game vs Jazz

Published 04/07/2024, 10:27 PM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

The Golden State Warriors are currently facing off against the Utah Jazz. Having already won 6 of their last 7 games, the Warriors were hoping to continue their momentum by putting up a good offensive and defensive front. As a result, they’ve been leading their rivals for 3 quarters, with Klay Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis putting up an impressive points total. However, their excellent performance seems to have come at a price. A few minutes ago, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater highlighted that the Warriors power forward Draymond Green “just went down the tunnel with Rick Celebrini”.

“Normal time he’d be out of the game, but he looked a little bothered, grabbing near lower back.” It didn’t take long for another post to confirm that Green has returned to the bench. He ended his game duration with 21 minutes, scoring only 3 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

As of now, there is no official update on the severity of the injury. This incident was not something completely unexpected, as Draymond Green has been dealing with issues related to his lower back since the commencement of the second half of the regular season. It forced him to drop out of a crucial game against the Dallas Mavericks back in March, which his team ended up losing by a score of 109-99.

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However, it also didn’t take too long for him to return. Despite appearing on the Injury Report as either ‘probable’ or ‘questionable’ the player continued to make himself available during the matchups.

When questioned by a reporter about playing despite his back tensions, Green gave assurances by stating “I can do it. I’m cut out for it. I don’t overly worry about it because I know we have fives that are perfectly capable of taking over and doing what we need them to do. It’s not something I think about.” Judging from a possible relapse, it seems that the 34-year-old player may have to go back to worrying about it.

What other injuries has Draymond Green sustained this season?

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Believe it or not, Draymond Green’s unfortunate circumstances with his lower back are not the first brush he has had with injury this season. Similarly to various other players, the power forward has had some mishaps on the court that have caused him to either perform below his 100% or forced him to be sidelined. Even before the regular season commenced, the player developed an ankle sprain during a pickup game.

USA Today via Reuters

As a result, he had to miss out on a couple of preseason games and even the first two games of the main schedule. He had barely returned to the court when he engaged in unworthy actions that caused him to be suspended for 5 and 12 games, respectively. Upon returning, he developed a right knee contusion, causing his name to become a permanent feature on the Injury Report for quite some time. All in all, the Warriors’ most valuable defensive player has only appeared in 53 out of 78 games this season.

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With a 11-14 record in DrayMagic’s absence, the Warriors may succeed in working without Green in order to secure their position in the Play-In series. However, they will be hoping to have the player by their side during the next stage of the tournament.

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Written by:

Ashmit Kumar

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Ashmit is an NBA Content Analyst at EssentiallySports. Having started as a writer, he specializes in writing captivating stories that include the elements of in-depth coverage of teams, players and more. Due to his knowledge of the technicalities of the sport, Ashmit writes perspective pieces that provide well-researched analysis.
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Edited by:

Daniel D'Cruz