NEW ORLEANS — Golden State forward Draymond Green went nearly chest-to-chest with a fan during the Warriors’ 124-106 road victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night.
“He just kept calling me a woman. It was a good joke at first but you can’t keep calling me a woman,” Green said, clarifying later that the fan was calling him “a woman’s name.”
“I got four kids and one on the way,” Green added. “Just don’t be disrespectful.”
The fan, who identified himself as Sam Green, 35, of New Orleans, was wearing a black polo with a Pelicans logo on it. He was standing and cheering after Draymond Green had been called for a shooting foul while guarding Pelicans forward Herb Jones.
While players began taking their positions along the key for Jones’ foul shots, Draymond Green strode over to the grinning fan and stood just inches from him as they spoke to one another, with the fan holding his arms out on each side.
Game officials quickly stepped between them and pulled Draymond Green away while ushers gathered around and spoke with the fan, who continued to look amused by the exchange.
Draymond Green said game official Courtney Kirkland told him, “I got it. I’ve heard him over and over and over again. You’ve handled it well. Don’t get yourself in no trouble. I’ll take care of it. Courtney was great.”
Sam Green said he was heckling Draymond Green with chants of “Angel Reese,” because, while the Warriors star had several rebounds, he hadn’t attempted many shots at that point. Draymond Green finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Sam Green said the NBA star shouted profanity at him and threatened to punch him out if he continued the “Angel Reese” taunts (a reference to the WNBA and former LSU star who set several LSU and SEC rebounding records).
“I wasn’t using profanity and for him to walk 12 feet off the court to come and get in my face like that, it was a little unnerving,” said Sam Green, who was given a warning by ushers but was allowed to remain in his front-row seat.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in postgame remarks that he couldn’t comment extensively about the confrontation because he wasn’t sure what was said.
“As long as it doesn’t escalate, it’s fine (for a player) to go over and have a discussion,” Kerr said. “It would have been nice if security had gotten there a little bit earlier.”
Draymond Green, who has been known to draw technical fouls, fines and ejections for his confrontational and emotionally combustible on-court persona, has been fined for fan interaction before.
In 2022, he was fined $25,000 (C$35,000) for what the NBA described as “directing obscene language toward a fan.”
Green has been critical of fan behaviour, saying fans face relatively few consequences for saying inappropriate things, and are in fact motivated to do so by the fact that players can be fined for engaging with them.
Green said Sunday night that he is accustomed to heckling at road games and that it generally doesn’t bother him.
“I love disrespect on the road because we win a lot,” Green said. “Quieting a home crowd is always fun.”
Although the Pelicans have won just two of their first 13 games and fired coach Willie Green on Saturday, Green said he was surprised to see such a small crowd for a game in which Stephen Curry was playing. Announced attendance was 18,373, close to capacity, but many seats remained empty.
“The Steph Curry show; it usually travels,” Green said. “Man, this place; it’s tough in here.
“You want to go into full arenas (which) also helps the entire league out,” Green said. “So, you might need to take a look. It’s interesting.”
