Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green confronted a fan in the stands who was heckling him with chants of “Angel Reese” during the Warriors’ 124-106 road win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, November 16.
The athlete, 35, walked over to the fan, who identified himself as Sam Green, after being called for a shooting foul. As the other players on the court began lining up for the free throws, Draymond stood chest-to-chest with Sam, and the two exchanged words before officials separated them.
Draymond said after the game that referee 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,” adding, “Courtney was great.”
“He just kept calling me a woman,” Draymond continued, before clarifying that Sam, also 35, was calling him “a woman’s name.”
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Sam later explained to ESPN that he was taunting Draymond by chanting Reese’s name because the four-time NBA champion pulled down several rebounds earlier in the game off his own missed shots. A major knock on Chicago Sky star Reese, 23, is that her historic rebound numbers as a rookie came about largely from her doing the same thing. Critics called them “mebounds,” a term Reese has since trademarked.
“It was a good joke at first, but you can’t keep calling me a woman,” Draymond added. “I got four kids, one on the way. You can’t keep calling me a woman.”
Draymond and his wife, Hazel Renee, share daughters Cash, 5, and Hunni, who turns 2 in December. He is also the father of son Draymond Jr., 8, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Jelissa Hardy. Renee, 39, previously welcomed daughter Olive, 11, with former NBA player Jacob Pullen.
“He was talking at first,” Draymond said. “Then you get a little closer and he didn’t really say much else. But it’s fine. We move on.”
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Sam, who remained courtside after the incident, received a warning from arena ushers after the incident.
“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,” he told ESPN.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr addressed the confrontation after the game, saying he was not aware of what was said but insisting Draymond did not cross any lines.
“As long as it doesn’t escalate, it’s fine [for a player] to go over and have a discussion,” he said. “It would have been nice if security had gotten there a little bit earlier.”
This wasn’t Draymond’s first contentious interaction with a fan during a game. In 2022, the NBA fined him $25,000 for “directing obscene language toward a fan.”
“Some people look at NBA players like they’re superhuman,” he said at the time. “That they’re this larger-than-life figure. So you come and you get someone to say something back and they get fined. They go home and laugh with their buddies. I think it’s just one of those things when you can hold it in and get to the ref and get them out, it’s great.”
