The Golden State Warriors might be struggling with their form over the past two months, but Draymond Green can take solace in the fact that one of his biggest rivals is having an even worse period.
By this time last season Green had already been suspended twice for seperate incidents, the second of which saw him hit Jusuf Nurkic which triggered an indefinite suspension. Fortunately Green has kept himself away from such incidents so far this season, but the same can't be said for Nurkic who was recently suspended three games for an incident with Dallas Mavericks forward Naji Marshall.
The Phoenix Suns are stuck with Jusuf Nurkic
Nurkic's suspension forced him to miss another meeting with Green and the Warriors late last month, with Golden State claiming a 109-105 victory thanks to Jonathan Kuminga's career-high 34 points.
The Green-Nurkic rivalry goes further than that one singular incident, having also exchanged words during and after a game between Golden State and Phoenix later last season where the Bosnian big man claimed Green hadn't learnt from his mistake.
The Warrior forward was never going to miss the opportunity to respond to Nurkic's recent suspension, taking to his podcast to deliver some rather ironic words for the Suns center.
"I hope that brother got the help he needs," Green sarcastically said. "It was just like outta nowhere, like something's wrong in life to just go back and swing like that."
“I hope that brother got the help he needs” 🙃 @money23green’s reaction to seeing Nurkic starting a fight with Naji Marshall pic.twitter.com/VwTwO2T39Z
— The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis (@DraymondShow) January 11, 2025
But if the suspension wasn't enough for Green to have a wry smile about, he can take even more amusement from the fact things have gone from bad to worse for Nurkic since his return.
It seems the Suns have had enough of Nurkic's on-court performances, removing the 30-year-old not only out of the starting lineup but the rotation completely. Nurkic has been a DNP over Phoenix's last two games (both wins) against the Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz, with Mike Budenholzer preferring Mason Plumlee as a starter and rookie Osa Ighodaro off the bench.
The Suns are now essentially stuck with Nurkic, at least for the rest of the season according to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX_Sports. "As you’d expect, he doesn’t have a ton of trade value right now. Might have more this summer as an expiring," Bourguet wrote.
Nurkic is making $18.1 million this season and will make $19.4 million next season, with the difficulty of trading him only enhanced by the Suns place above the second tax apron and the subsequent limitations associated.