Draymond Green recently shared his thoughts on the financial struggles NBA players face due to fines during an interview with Shaquille O’Neal.
The Golden State player is known for both his contributions to the team’s success and his frequent clashes with players and referees. These incidents have cost him around $900,000 in fines over his career, not including millions lost from suspensions without pay.
Discussing Fines and Wealth
In the latest episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, Draymond argued that heavy fines make it hard for players to save money after they retire. “The fines to me don’t make sense,” he explained. He believes that these penalties prevent athletes from building wealth, especially considering their backgrounds.
He elaborated further by saying, “This job is not set up, the way we’re taxed, the way we’re fined… If I do something wrong, I lose $100,000. It took my mom four years when I was growing up to make $100,000.” Draymond feels it’s unfair that a single incident can cost him so much money just because a referee got upset.
Recent Controversies
One of Draymond’s most notorious incidents this season was when he hit Jusuf Turkic in the face and got suspended indefinitely. This suspension cost him about $2 million in wages.
I think it’s crazy how much money they can lose over one mistake!
After getting ejected for the fourth time this season against Orlando, Draymond admitted on his podcast that he deserved it. He acknowledged that he said something inappropriate to the officials after a foul call on Andrew Wiggins early in the game.
“It just can’t happen,” he said back in March. “I deserved to be kicked out at that point… But yeah, it just can’t happen.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez-BhyFhHa8
Ejection History
This recent ejection marks Draymond’s 19th career regular-season ejection—second only to Rasheed Wallace who has 25. Despite this record, Draymond remains calm about his situation: “Stuff is never as good as it seems; it’s never as bad as it seems… My position is just make sure that’s the exception and not the rule.”
