NEW ORLEANS — Golden State forward Draymond Green went nearly chest-to-chest with a fan during the Warriors’ road game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night.
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 Herbert 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 each other, with the fan holding his arms out at his sides.
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.
Sam Green said he was taunting Draymond Green with chants of “Angel Reese,” because, while the Warriors star had several rebounds, he hadn’t attempted any shots.
“He just kept calling me a woman,” Draymond told reporters after the game. “It was a good joke at first, but you can’t keep calling me a woman. I got four kids, one on the way. You can’t keep calling me a woman.”
Sam Green said Draymond 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.
“He was talking at first,” Draymond Green said. “Then you get a little closer and he didn’t really say much else. But it’s fine. We move on.”
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 for what the NBA described as “directing obscene language toward a fan.”
Green has been critical of fan behavior, 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.
ESPN’s Anthony Slater contributed to this report.
