In the road game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, Draymond Green was faced with a peculiar issue. He ended up in a heated confrontation with a Pelicans fan, who was taunting the Golden State Warriors forward with ‘Angel Reese’ chants. Green did not like that taunting and decided to confront the fan after getting booked for a foul while contesting against Pelicans’ Herbert Jones.
Earlier in that game, Green had missed five of his shots and rebounded four of those. The Angel Reese chants from fans stemmed from the fact that the WNBA star had several rebounding records in the SEC and LSU from her time playing college hoops. Though there wasn’t any physical altercation between the fan and Green, the fan alleged Green to have used profanity against him.
ESPN insider Shams Charania has come up with the latest development on this case, suggesting that the NBA has issued a warning to Green for his actions. Though a fine wasn’t levied upon the Warriors star, this was quite a narrow escape which could have ended rather nastily for Green. In his report, Charania said,
“The NBA has issued a warning to Golden State’s Draymond Green for his interaction with a vocal fan in New Orleans on Sunday night, source tells ESPN. No fine. The fan was chanting ‘Angel Reese’ toward Green, who responded face-to-face as taunts continued.”
This isn’t the first time Draymond Green is faced with such an issue. In 2022, Green was fined $25,000 by the league for “directing obscene language” towards a fan. Following Sunday’s incident, the fan was given a warning by the stewards at the arena but was allowed to retain his front-row seat.
Draymond Green has always been critical of such eccentric fan behavior in road arenas. He says that fans face relatively less consequences for saying inappropriate things while being highly motivated to indulge with players. This is because players often end up either fined or worse case, suspended for engaging with them. Though he is accustomed to heckling at road games, Green assured that such incidents generally don’t bother him.
Draymond Green Had Suggested The Warriors To Block Lauri Markkanen’s Trade
Up until an year and a half ago, the Warriors were the top contenders to land Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen. However, new reports suggest Draymond Green had suggested the Warriors front office not to go ahead with the trade. In Green’s words, the trade had a lot of demand for the Warriors to fulfil, leaving them at the wrong side of the stick. As per ESPN’s Anthony Slater, Green said,
”I’m a big fan of [Markkanen’s] game. But I think if you want to do something so huge you better be certain that this is the move. You usually don’t win those things against Danny Ainge. I look at history.”
Indeed, there is some level of truth to what Green is suggesting here. Utah’s Danny Ainge can be quite demanding when it comes to making dealings with him. Ask the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Cleveland Cavaliers. Both these teams ended giving up almost entirety of their assets just to land Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, respectively.
As of now, Lauri Markkanen is averaging 30.6 points per game in the league and has emerged as one of the hottest players to watch this season. Adding him could have offered the Dubs much needed spacing and shooting prowess on the floor. However, did the Warriors actually miss out on an opportunity with the same? That’s for time to tell in the long run.
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