Draymond Green: There's An 'Agenda' To Make Me Look Like An 'Angry Black Man'
The NBA has an agenda against Golden State Warriors Draymond Green - at least, according to Draymond Green.
On Thursday night, Golden State played Game 2 of its second-round playoff matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In the first quarter, Timberwolves center Naz Reid fouled Green on the perimeter, but Green also flailed his arms and hit Reid in the head.
What I see is Green intentionally trying to hit Reid in the head. When a player tries to throw his arms up to draw a shooting foul, both normally go up. One of them doesn’t go rogue and hit someone in the side of the head, unless you’re doing it on purpose.
That’s what the officiating crew saw last night, as they assessed Green a dead ball technical foul. Green was furious about the call, and started yelling at the officials.
Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors looks on against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the third quarter of Game One of the Second Round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center on May 06, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Warriors defeated the Timberwolves 99-88 to take a 1-0 series lead. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
After the game, Green was still furious about getting another technical, which puts him two away from getting an automatic one-game suspension. That would be terrible for Golden State, since Steph Curry is already out for the immediate future with a hamstring injury. But Green didn’t care about that, he cared about the agenda that the NBA (supposedly) has against him.
"Looked like the angry Black man," Green said to reporters. "I'm not an angry Black man. I am a very successful, educated Black man with a great family, and I am great at basketball and 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."
He did not elaborate on what he meant - shocker.
Draymond Green Has Earned Every Ounce Of Negative Press He Gets
Look, the NBA is great, and I mean great, at creating narratives, especially if they revolve around social injustice or making it seem like America should be disrespected. But what it does not do is go after high-profile black stars.
If we are honest, the league will do anything to shield black players from criticism or uplift them. LeBron James and James Harden were protected from backlash for catering to China. Joel Embiid was essentially handed the league’s MVP award in 2023 because the NBA’s media did its part to make it seem like Nikola Jokić getting a third straight award would be racist.
The NBA does not go after big stars. Green is way off base here.
Frankly, Green’s reputation as an unlikable player is well deserved. Green is one of the league’s biggest repeat offenders for unruly behavior on the court.
For his whole career, he’s crossed the line too many times, but three more recent examples in particular stand out (and they all happened in 2023).
He stomped on Sacramento Kings guard Domantas Sabonis.
He slapped then Phoenix Suns forward Jusuf Nurkic on the side of the head for no reason at all.
And he put Rudy Gobert in a choke hold during a scrum.
Since then, he continues to yell at referees, fans, and anyone he doesn’t like, needing little invitation to do so. Any word you use to describe him - be it angry, dirty, or classless - is justified thanks to years of examples.
The NBA is not to blame for creating a narrative about Green’s behavior. The Golden State star has done that himself.