Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green got into it with a fan sitting courtside on Sunday night after the man kept referring to him as WNBA star Angel Reese.
Green, in the first half of the Warriors’ 124-106 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, suddenly confronted a fan sitting at the Smoothie King Center. That fan, who identified himself as Sam Green to The Associated Press, was clearly heckling Green throughout the contest. Then, as players were preparing to line up for a free throw in the first half, Green walked over to the fan and got right up in his face.
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Officials and teammates quickly separated the two. The fan received a warning, Green was not hit with a penalty, and the game then continued on normally. The two did not make contact with each other, but they were clearly in a heated discussion.
After the game, Green said that the fan was hitting him with an “Angel Reese” chant. At the time, he had seven rebounds but hadn’t attempted a single shot.
“It was a good joke at first, but you can’t keep calling me a woman,” Green said, via the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sam Gordon. “I’ve got four kids and one on the way. Can’t keep calling me a woman. He got quiet though, so it was fine.”
Someone pointed out to Green that Reese is one of the best rebounders in the WNBA.
“Yeah for sure, but … Lisa Leslie was a good rebounder too, and she’s older than me,” he replied. “Just don’t be disrespectful, it’s cool. We’ll move on.”
Sam Green told said that he didn’t feel like he did anything wrong, and that Draymond had both used profanity at him and threatened to punch him.
“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,” Sam Green told The Associated Press.
Reese, who dominated at LSU before entering the league, averaged 13.1 rebounds per game as a rookie and 12.6 per game last season with the Chicago Sky. Those led the league both seasons. She averaged 15.4 rebounds per game as a junior at LSU, too, and had 13.4 rebounds per game during her senior season.
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Green finished the night with eight points and 10 rebounds. He went 3-of-13 from the field, too. The Warriors rolled to the 18-point win without much issue. The Pelicans, led by 20 points from Trey Murphy, fell to 2-11 on the year.
Green has gotten into issues with fans before in his career. He was fined $25,000 in 2022 after he directed “obscene language toward a fan” during a game with the Dallas Mavericks.
“As long as it doesn’t escalate, it’s fine [for a player] to go over and have a discussion,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, via The Associated Press, while declining to really get into the incident specifically. “It would have been nice if security had gotten there a little bit earlier.”
The Warriors now sit at 9-6 after Sunday’s win, which marked their third straight. They’ll take on the Orlando Magic next on Tuesday.
