Draymond Green breaks down the LeBron James-Isaiah Stewart incident | The Draymond Green Show

As a fan of the game of basketball, that shit was crazy. And as an actual player, come on. And why I say come on is because if you watch that video, by the way, Isaiah Stewart is probably the strongest guy in the NBA. What is he, 19, 20 years old? Reincarnation of Ben Wallace there in Detroit. So going back, obviously LeBron swung his arm and he bloodied Isaiah. And I mean, as someone who's had his fair share of shit throughout the course of my career, I personally can't say LeBron did that on purpose. And here's why I say that. Did he swing his arm on purpose? Yes, absolutely. Was he trying to get Isaiah Stewart from hooking off his arm? Absolutely. Was he trying to fucking bloody his eye and have blood running down his face like he just got his ass kicked by Bud Crawford? I don't think so. I just personally don't think LeBron's intentions was to actually hit him in the eye to actually make him bleed, to which then led to all of that. And here's why. You have to be so accurate and just swinging your arm in the heat of the battle to actually connect and have this guy bloody the way he was. Now again, I 100% think Bron was swinging his arm to get him off him. Mm-hmm. Of course, that's a natural reaction. Kind of like my reaction when LeBron stepped over me, you know, like someone— it's a natural reaction when someone's grabbing you, someone's over you. It's a natural thing, you know? And so I 100% don't think that LeBron did that on purpose. But as I said, he definitely was getting the kid off of him. All right, now we move forward. In the little scrum. And my second thoughts were, y'all matched up man to man, you know, man to man, each other's face. And to me it looked like LeBron is saying, "Hey man, my bad. Didn't, you know, didn't try to do that." And the conversation seemed to be— Uh-huh. A little under control. You know, he's pissed off, he turns around, Bron standing there, Bron's like, "Yo, my bad," blah, blah, blah. And then this is where it got spicy. You have the teammates come running in, holding the guy back, pulling him away from LeBron. And I think they may have made him feel like he should be upset. Because that's when he went apeshit. He went apeshit right after the teammates start coming in to grab him. He looked as if he was just going to have a conversation with Bron in that moment and they kind of got to get it figured all out. Then everyone runs in, he turns into the fucking Incredible Hulk and starts running over everybody. You know, if you were going to do all of that, then that should have just happened when y'all were face to face. Like, you had your opportunity to do whatever it was that you were going to do, and that didn't happen. That time period is gone. Let's move forward. So for everyone out there, for my fellow NBA guys out there, for Isaiah Stewart, As someone who's been fined about $1 million in my career, I wouldn't waste my time if I were you, and money. Because unless you're going to do something right in that moment that you and LeBron were face to face, the rest of the shit's just window dressing. And the rest of it is, it leads to the internet going crazy. And most importantly, what it leads to is it leads to a fucking 2-game suspension, which is 2 game checks. And you know, there's this common misconception of once a kid comes into the NBA that they're rich. That's bullshit. Because number 1, you have agent fees. Most importantly, you have taxes. You have cost of living, you have, for most of us, figuring out how money and finances actually work. You know, so you have all of these things, you have family, you have all of these things to where those first couple years, especially for me, who was a second round pick, you just don't have a bunch of money. And to get suspended, for 2 games. I'm not sure how Isaiah Stewart's salary, but I'd be willing to bet he probably won't get a check for the next week. I mean, for the next 2 to 4 weeks. And if so, it will be significantly less. I do think this is the last that we'll see Isaiah Stewart getting into it with someone like the caliber of King James or some other guys in this league. Because as, as Gilbert Arenas said in his in his post the other day. There's just some guys you shouldn't get into it with. And Isaiah, take it from me. I got into it with LeBron James about roughly 5 years ago and it didn't go so well for me. And not that Bron kicked my ass, but he did kick my ass. Not physically though. He did kick my ass because he came back from a 3-1 deficit to win a world championship. And that shit still stings today. So as someone who has gotten into it with King James on the floor, Isaiah, just a little word of advice. It's not really worth the time. It's not really worth the effort and the energy that he spent to get through all of those people only to end up paying 2 game checks. We can all sit and say, "How did he get suspended for 2 games and LeBron got suspended for 1? LeBron started, blah, blah, blah." That shit doesn't matter. That is the world that we live in. Shit is earned. And I think LeBron James personally should not have been suspended for one game because he is LeBron James. And yes, he did hit the dude in the face. He got kicked out of a game. Let's just leave it at that because I personally don't think— that's just, that's the world we live in, man. So.

If you didn't think LeBron deserved the suspension, were you surprised then? Because I feel like a lot of people were surprised that he got suspended for a game, especially considering considering the game he's gonna miss is a national TV game at Madison Square Garden?

You know, it, it, I am not surprised that he got suspended and here's why. Adam Silver, uh, who I think is the best commissioner in sports, um, and it's not a discussion, um, Adam Silver, if I'm not mistaken, has publicly said something along the lines of,— the league judges reactions on social media and everywhere else when they are deciding whether a suspension will happen, a fine will happen. Adam hasn't been shy to that. And I could be mixing my channels up, and that's something that I've heard just being in the NBA. But as a fan of this game, I'm pretty sure that's something that I've seen publicly. But that's— That's— That's that. Like, they're going to somewhat take into account the public's reaction. And obviously the public reaction to this was huge. So I am not surprised that LeBron got suspended for a game because the public's reaction was so big to it, to the incident, and it's drawn so much attention. So because of that, I'm not surprised.

Yeah.

But I am surprised because I just don't think LeBron James should get suspended unless it's just some shit that fucking, you know, sometimes, you know, things do get a little outta hand and then that's just that. That thing got outta hand, but from the time LeBron hit him in the face, he was kind of like, "Hey man, my bad." He stood back. He didn't continue to go. Even after Isaiah Stewart did all the running around and trying to rip through people that he did, Bron just stood back there like, look at him, like what's he doing? And so yes, I think LeBron got kicked out of the game and like there's his punishment. Like you get kicked out of the game, you're getting fined there. Maybe you tack on an extra fine or something, whatever. But I personally didn't think he should have gotten suspended because he had his punishment. Like he hit the guy in the face.

Yeah.

He got kicked outta the game and that's that. Now it's one thing if, you know, that officiating crew said, we're gonna give LeBron a flagrant one or we're gonna give LeBron a technical foul and he continues to play. And then the league goes and review it and they say, oh no, that punishment, he should have been thrown outta that game. So because of that, we're giving a one game suspension, then that's totally different. But I mean, he had got kicked outta the game and— Yeah. I personally think he just paid for his actions. Like, you know, Isaiah Stewart went crazy after the fact and, you know, it created this whole commotion. But the reality is that like LeBron didn't go crazy. Like, so does LeBron now get in trouble because this dude start running through everybody? Like, I personally don't understand that. And so— I don't either. I didn't think he should have been suspended. So if I was surprised at anything, I was surprised more so at the fact of like, yes, you suspended him, but he served his punishment and that's just that. But it's funny because I was talking to my wife yesterday and we were talking about, I'm like, Damn baby, they just suspended LeBron. And we're talking about the situation. And she's like, well, can you, you're like, wouldn't it be dope if you could choose which game you get suspended for? Tell me, are you asking me? I sure wouldn't have chosen game 5. So I mean, that'd be nice. But, and I said, well, that would be nice, but doesn't quite work that way. It's just the next game up. And she's like, "That sucks." I said, "Well, what sucks is they're playing in the Garden and it's a national TV game. You know, it's the Knicks." And she's like, "Yeah, that sucks." She's like, "But I'm sure LeBron feels like, I've played in the Garden enough times, like, all right." But I said, "But here's what you have to take into account, baby. At the point that LeBron is at in his career, which is in year 19, He only have so many more games in the Garden. You know, like you got this one this year, which he'll now miss. So then you got year 20. Who knows what's going on at that point in the season when you play in the Garden, you know? And so we've seen LeBron have monster games in the Garden and you know, we know what that stage brings out in the best. And so just to not have that opportunity to play and you only have so many more opportunities to actually be on that stage and play in the Garden. That's the part where I think, I think that really sucks. Yeah.