The 2023-24 season was a tough one for Draymond Green. Not only did his team crash out right as the postseason began, but Green also suffered emotionally throughout the season. No stranger to fines and suspensions due to his behavior, Green recently talked about penalties that are imposed on the players by the league during a recent appearance on The Big Podcast.
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During his conversation with Shaquille O’Neal, Green made a bold statement about how the league is not setup for an athlete to thrive post-retirement. He said, “This job is actually not set up for us to be wealthy after we’re done playing… the way we’re taxed.” The 34-year-old shed light on the number of fines that are collected from athletes and detailed how it affects their overall wealth in the end.
Green is also not happy with the fact that the players have to pay huge sums of money in taxes, which partially drains their resources by the time they retire. For more perspective on this, according to Spotrac, by the time Green completes his current contract, he would’ve made $255,562,184 in career earnings.
Unfortunately, as per the California tax laws, he would lose nearly half the amount in taxes. So, his frustration with the scale of it is understandable. However, he almost exaggerated his claims regarding the NBA fines.
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Green said, “It took my mom four years when I was growing up to make $100k. And I lose that a night because, what?” He alluded that the league imposing a $100k fine on athletes for actions that aren’t even severe is going to put a dent in their net worth.
Up until now, he has lost $887,000 to fines and another $3,223,073 to suspensions. So, when looked at in relation to the fact that Green would make more than $250 million in his career, it doesn’t seem like something that would put his future at risk.
However, for a regular person, his $4 million in fines and suspensions is life-changing money. This rant from Green on Shaq’s podcast came after the big fella mentioned the fine that the league imposed on Jamal Murray.
Draymond Green calls out the double standard in the league
Earlier this month when the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves were matched up for the second-round series, Murray lost his cool during Game 2. The Nuggets star tossed a towel and a heat pack on the court while the players were running up and down the court. After careful assessment of his action, the NBA imposed a $100k fine on Murray.
When the big fella asked his guest, what would’ve happened if Green threw the towel and heat pack on the court, he said, “I would’ve got suspended for the rest of the playoffs, for sure… I tried to hit Bron and got suspended from the Game 5 of the Finals.”
Green believes that the league was more understanding when Murray violated the rules, but if he was in his place, Green would’ve gotten a much worse punishment than just a $100k fine.
