"I’m gonna beat them up" - Shaquille O'Neal avoids being 'hypocrite' while defending Draymond Green for choke-holding Rudy Gobert

Draymond Green has gained support for his recent action of putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold from Shaquille O'Neal, who too has been involved in several on-court altercations throughout his career.

The Golden State forward infamously put the Minnesota big man in a chokehold as chaos ensued following a jersey-grabbing incident between Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels in the early minutes of the In-Season Tournament game between the Warriors and Timberwolves earlier this week.

The incident resulted in Thompson and McDaniels being given technical fouls worthy of ejections and Draymond Green being ejected for a level 2 flagrant foul.

Shaq, who once shoved Chris Dudley after dunking on him, told the LA Times that he would have taken similar action to defend his teammates.

“I’m from the old school, so you always stick up for your guys. Like, me and you are doing the interview right now — somebody come put their hands on you, I’m gonna beat them up ‘cause you’re my guy,” he said.

“But you get these people who say it was wrong — like, I try not to be a hypocrite. I would’ve did the same thing. I’m not gonna sit here and say he was wrong, he shouldn’t have did it — he probably shouldn’t have did it, but WWSD, what would Shaq do? Shaq would’ve did the same thing.”

Draymond Green received a five-game suspension as a result of the incident. The league cited his history of unsportsmanlike behavior in determining the length of his ban.

"The length of the suspension is based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts," a press release from the NBA read.

Shaq has engaged in numerous on-court altercations; there is a seven-minute compilation of these incidents accessible on YouTube.

The Diesel was ejected 14 times during his career.

Steve Kerr calls the Draymond Green incident 'inexcusable'

On Thursday, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Draymond Green went too far with his actions, and the punishment was warranted.

"Draymond has to find a way to not cross the line," Kerr said. "I'm not talking about getting an ejection or getting a technical. I'm talking about a physical act of violence. That's inexcusable."

"It was a terrible visual for the league, for Draymond, for everybody. Draymond was wrong. He knows that. It's a bad look. The five games is deserved, and we move forward."

Green started serving his suspension on Thursday, sitting out the Warriors' game against the OKC Thunder, which resulted in a 128-109 Golden State loss.