Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green’s suggestion for Devin Booker’s future did not amuse the NBA.
The league fined Green $50,000 on Sunday for violating the league’s anti-tampering rule with his comments about Booker, the Phoenix Suns’ star guard.
“Get my man out of Phoenix,” Green said Saturday during an appearance as an analyst for TNT. “It’s not good for him. It’s not good for his career.”
Asked on-air if he was tampering, Green replied, “maybe.”
The league tightened its rules before this season when it comes to matters such as tampering, salary cap circumvention and free agency timing rules – with one emphasis being the rule prohibiting player-to-player tampering.
Booker has not been to the playoffs with the Suns, who have not made the postseason in 10 years. The Suns are 5-0 so far inside the so-called bubble at Walt Disney World, which is playing host to the NBA’s restart, and that streak has moved Phoenix into playoff contention.
PAUL WESTPHAL, a Hall of Famer and a former Boston Celtics player, has been diagnosed with brain cancer, it was announced by close friend Mike Lupica.
Westphal, 69, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last year, and is also in the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
SUNDAY’S GAMES
TRAIL BLAZERS 124, 76ERS 121: Damian Lillard scored 51 points, and Portland pulled within a half-game of Memphis for eighth place in the Western Conference.
Philadelphia’s All-Star center, Joel Embiid, left in the first quarter because of what the team called a left ankle injury, and he did not return.
THUNDER 121, WIZARDS 103: Rookie Darius Bazley scored a career-high 23 points off the bench, and Oklahoma City beat Washington to keep the Wizards the only winless team inside the NBA bubble.
Bazley was 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Danilo Gallinari scored 20 points, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 18 as Oklahoma City led from the opening bucket and improved to 3-2 in the seeding games.
Mike Muscala also scored 18 points. Chris Paul had 13 points and nine assists, and Hamidou Diallo finished with 13 points for the Thunder.
RAPTORS 108, GRIZZLIES 99: Pascal Siakam scored 26 points to help Toronto beat Memphis, preventing the Grizzlies from clinching a spot in the Western Conference play-in series.
Norman Powell scored 16 points and Kyle Lowry added 15 for the Raptors, who clinched the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and their fifth consecutive season with at least 50 wins.
Dillon Brooks scored 25 points, Grayson Allen matched a season high with 20 and Ja Morant had 17 points and 10 assists for the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies dropped to 1-5 in the restart and are barely hanging on to eighth place in the West, with Portland, Phoenix and San Antonio close behind. There will be a play-in series in the West, starting Saturday.
SPURS 122, PELICANS 113: DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points, Rudy Gay added 19 off the bench and San Antonio held on after wasting most of a 20-point, second-half lead.
ROCKETS 129, KINGS 112: Austin Rivers scored a career-high 41 points off the bench and Houston used a big third quarter to pull away from Sacramento.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.