ESPN
Draymond Green took an elbow to the face from Jusuf Nurkić in Golden State’s loss to the Clippers, a game Golden State blew a 12-point lead in to lose after LA’s Norman Powell drained 4 three’s in the final 7 minutes en route to a win.
At first glance, it looked like Draymond Green flopped from a very soft elbow to the face. But the reverse angle makes it look like a slightly stiffer bump from Golden State’s big man. Regardless of the actual elbow itself, Draymond Green was on the ground for over a minute during one of the funniest NBA sequences in years.
Here is the video of Jusuf Nurkić accidentally elbowing Draymond Green followed by the second video of the hilarious back and forth:
Draymond went to the locker room after taking an elbow to the face 😳 pic.twitter.com/beV68Dlncy
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) February 15, 2024
This video showing the immediate aftermath of Draymond Green hitting the deck has since gone viral. It’s currently being shown on ESPN’s SportsCenter in the background of my office as I type this out. Keep your eyes on Draymond as he writhes around on the ground after the elbow and not a single person on the court seems to care:
Did he go to the locker room because he spent over half-a-minute rolling around trying to sell the injury? Or did Draymond Green to to the locker room afterward because the elbow actually caught him pretty good? The problem is we’ll never know the truth because, well, it’s the NBA and flopping has become part of the game.
Draymond Green could come out in a mask at practice and people would still question if he was actually hurt by the elbow or still selling it. That’s how bad of a problem flopping has become in the NBA, it’s worse than Spanish soccer.