Warriors’ Draymond Green says he’s sick of being made to ‘look like an angry Black man’

Warriors’ Draymond Green says he’s sick of being made to ‘look like an angry Black man’

Draymond Green said he is “tired of the agenda to make me look like an angry Black man,” following Golden State’s loss to Minnesota on Thursday, where he received his fifth technical foul of the playoffs.

“I’m not an angry Black man, I’m a very successful, educated Black man with a great family,” Green said after the Warriors’ 117-93 loss in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals series. “And I’m great at basketball, I’m great at what I do. The agenda trying to make me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous.”

Green was called for a technical in the second quarter after flailing his arms upon being fouled by Timberwolves center Naz Reid. Green’s arm struck Reid in the face, an action that was deemed unnecessary according to lead official Tony Brothers, resulting in the technical. After a review confirmed the call, Green yelled in the face of an official before Steph Curry pulled him aside and Jimmy Butler pulled him away from the scene as Warriors coach Steve Kerr subbed him out.

The four-time All-Star is now two technical fouls away from an automatic one-game suspension.

“He’s going to have to be careful,” Kerr said after the game. “He’s going to have to stay composed and I’m confident he will because he knows the circumstances.”

Green also appeared to have an exchange with a fan in the fourth quarter. A görüntü posted to social media showed Green yelling back toward a fan while riding a stationary bike behind one end of the court. Green stood off the bike and waved off the fan while security came over and pointed in their direction.

Golden State team security confirmed to ESPN that the fan was ejected for allegedly directing a racial slur at Green.

It is not the first time that fans have allegedly directed derogatory language toward Green. In November 2022, he said Boston Celtics fans called him racial slurs during the NBA Finals earlier that year.

Green, who finished Thursday with nine points, four rebounds and five assists in the loss, has been suspended six times in his career. In 2023, he was suspended for five games for putting Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in a headlock. One month later, he was suspended indefinitely for striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the head.

In 2016, Green exceeded the threshold for flagrant foul points during the NBA Finals, triggering an automatic suspension for Game 5, the first of three consecutive Cleveland Cavaliers wins as they came back from trailing 3-1 in the series.

(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)

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