Is Draymond Green playing tonight? Latest on suspension return

After sitting out the past 16 games due to a suspension, four-time All-Star and four-time NBA Champion Draymond Green is set to return to the Golden State Warriors on Martin Luther King Jr. Day when the team travels to Memphis to face the Grizzlies, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Sitting at 18-21 and in 12th place in the Western Conference, Green’s return couldn’t come at a much better time for a Warriors team looking to find their footing. The Dubs have been able to tread water sans Green, going 8-8 in the 16 games he’s missed during the suspension.

Why was Draymond Green suspended?

On Dec. 12, 2023, when the Warriors faced the Phoenix Suns, Green struck Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face. Green was assessed a Flagrant 2 Foul for hitting Nurkic and ejected from the game as a result. The following day, Executive Vice President of the NBA Joe Dumars (who has a personal relationship with Green dating back to his high school days) announced that Green would be suspended indefinitely and required to meet specific criteria before he returns to action, including counseling and meetings with the league to assess his progress (or lack thereof).

While the suspension stems from Green’s aggressive behavior towards Nurkic, the NBA cited the former’s “repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts” as a factor that weighed into the outcome, which was the indefinite suspension.

This season, Green is averaging 9.7 points per game to go with 5.8 assists, and 5.5 rebounds while shooting a career-high 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. Given the amount of time Green has been out of the lineup, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him come off the bench or have a minutes restriction in his return against the Grizzlies on Monday.