Frustrations boiled over for the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night, May 8, in a 117-93 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Unsurprisingly, Warriors forward Draymond Green was at the center of the controversy.
What happened Thursday night vs. Minnesota?
In the second quarter of the matchup in Minneapolis, Green was called for a technical after being fouled by Timberwolves forward Naz Reid. As he tried to sell the original foul, he flailed his arms, hitting Reid in the face. The refs reviewed the play and upheld the technical, along with the foul on Reid. Green’s teammates, however, had to hold him back as he screamed in an official’s face. He was not ejected and finished with nine points, four rebounds and five assists. After the game, he made a quick comment to the media in the locker room, suggesting his reputation is costing him.
“I’m not an angry Black man,” Green said. “I’m a very successful, educated Black man with a great family, and I’m great at basketball, I’m great at what I do. The agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous.”
Was it the only incident during the game?
Adding to his frustrations, Green also had an interaction with a fan during the game. A video posted to social media shows him speaking back and forth with someone in the stands. The fan was ejected for yelling what team security called a racial slur at Green. Warriors’ star Jimmy Butler agrees, Green’s reputation is a factor.
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According to Spotrac, Draymond Green has been fined 227 times in his basketball career, for a total of $938,000 and has been suspended on six different occasions for a total of 21 games.
“He got fouled and maybe he’s trying to sell the call,” Butler said. “Somebody got hit, but it’s just crazy. Every time he does something it’s always a review, and it always ends up being something of that nature.”
Green has now racked up five technicals in this postseason. If he gets two more, he’ll serve an automatic one-game suspension. Head coach Steve Kerr said his star forward will need to be careful going forward.
“It’s part of Draymond,” Kerr said. “The same thing that makes him such a competitor and a winner puts him over the top sometimes. We know that, and it’s our job to try to help him stay poised, stay composed. But the competition is so meaningful to him that, occasionally, he goes over the line.”
What does Green’s history say about his reputation?
Over the years, Green has had numerous incidents with officials, opponents and fans. During the 2016 NBA Finals, he had to sit out a game for having too many technicals in the playoffs. In 2022, he punched teammate Jordan Poole at practice, was fined and took a leave of absence. In 2023, he was suspended for five games for putting Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in a headlock. One month after that infraction, he was suspended for 12 games for hitting Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the head.
All told, he’s been suspended six times in his career. The question is, does Green’s reputation as an “angry Black man,” as he put it, lead to trouble, or does the trouble lead to the perceived reputation?
There is no debate that he is one of the greatest defensive players of all-time and the Warriors need his presence on the court now more than ever, due to the hamstring injury suffered by guard Steph Curry.
The Warriors and their fans hope Green can keep it together enough to stay in the series. Game 3 is Saturday night, May 10, in San Francisco.
