Skip Bayless Warns Draymond Green Could Cause an ‘International Incident’ If He Plays For Team USA in the Olympics
Skip Bayless believes that Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green could cause serious trouble if he joined Team USA in the Olympics this summer.
USA Basketball recently revealed the 41-player pool of candidates to play for the national team in Paris. One of the most notable omissions from the list was Green, one of the biggest pieces of the Warriors’ dynasty that saw the team win four championships in eight seasons.
According to USA Basketball executive director Grant Hill, Green was left off due to his recent on-court issues.
“His contributions have been significant, and he is a real part of the legacy of this organization for his excellence,” Hill said on a Zoom call Wednesday. “But I think just in lieu of sort of what’s transpired this year, we made a decision to not have [Green] on this list with this particular point in time with the process.”
Green has been suspended twice this season. The first time came after he put Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in a headlock, and the second suspension was the result of him slapping Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic.
On Thursday’s episode of Undisputed, Bayless argued it was the right move keeping Green off the national team.
“Draymond’s a basketball savant,” Bayless said. “High IQ. Will do the dirty work, as Michael [Irvin] says; but, unfortunately, over time, he – and I’m just being real about this – he turned into a dirty basketball player. I don’t care. You can camouflage it all you want. You can say his ‘antics’ or whatever. He just went over the edge into cheap shots and dirty plays.
“But you can’t risk having an international incident if Draymond wants to turn back into Draymond; so that all disqualified him from being on the Olympic stage – the ultimate sort of amateur basketball stage. Could he help us win a gold medal? You better believe he could. They’re going to miss his presence, his leadership, his little plays that he can make. He can make a basketball team function the right way.”
Watch above via Fox Sports 1
