Draymond Green tells reporters he’s tired of ‘angry Black man’ portrayal

Golden State’s Draymond Green will receive a warning letter from the NBA after getting his fifth technical foul of these playoffs, and the fiery forward says he’s grown tired of being portrayed as an “angry Black man” on the court.

Green — who has made headlines numerous times in his career for his physicality on the court — made that comment after Golden State’s loss to Minnesota on Thursday night, a game where he got a technical foul after flailing his arms and making contact after getting fouled by Timberwolves‘ Naz Reid.

Officials reviewed the play after Reid fell to the floor, assessing the technical.

“I’m tired of the agenda to make me look like the angry Black man,” Green said to a small number of reporters in the locker room after the game. “I’m a very successful, educated Black man with a great family, and I’m 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.”

If Green gets two more technical fouls in these playoffs, he will face a mandatory one-game suspension by league rule. The league sends a warning letter to any player after their fifth technical of the postseason as well.

“It’s part of Draymond,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the Thursday’s game. “The same thing that makes him such a competitor and winner puts him over the top sometimes. We know that. It’s our job to try to help him stay poised, stay composed. But the competition is so meaningful to him that occasionally he goes over the line.”

On Friday, the Timberwolves released a statement about an ongoing investigation looking into fans who were taunting Green during the game, with one of them “making racially charged comments” to Green.

“During the fourth quarter of last night’s game against the Warriors, a fan was ejected by Target Center security for violating the NBA Fan Code of Conduct in an incident involving Draymond Green. A second individual, who was identified by surrounding patrons as making racially charged comments towards Green, left on his own before arena security could confirm his identity. The team is continuing to investigate, and additional action may be taken.” 

Green did not specifically bring up the fans or their taunts after the game, but the announcement of the alleged racist taunts he was subjected to mid-game might have shed light on why the Warriors’ forward said what he did to assembled reporters.

The Golden State-Minnesota series resumes Saturday in San Francisco, knotted at a game apiece.

Including playoffs, according to data compiled by SportRadar, Green has been assessed 202 technical fouls in his career.

He has faced NBA discipline countless times. Among them: Green missed 16 games last season after a suspension for striking Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic in the face during a Dec. 12, 2023, game, earned a five-game ban earlier that season after an altercation with Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert, stepped on the chest of Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis and earned a suspension during the 2023 playoffs, plus missed Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals because of an accumulation of flagrant-foul points during that postseason.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.