Draymond Green left Monday night’s win over the Orlando Magic early after he got into an argument with head coach Steve Kerr.
Green and Kerr were seen in a heated discussion during a timeout in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 120-97 win over the Magic, though it wasn’t clear what that argument was about. It was, though, extremely animated on the bench. At one point, it looked like Moses Moody tried to step in and calm Green down, but he later gave up and sat back down.
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Eventually, Green walked off the floor and went back to the locker rooms at the Chase Center.
“Tempers spilled over and I just thought it was best that I get out of there,” Green said after the game, via ESPN’s Anthony Slater. “I don’t think that was a situation where it was gonna get better. So, it was just best to remove myself. That’s it.”
Kerr declined to reveal what their tiff was actually about, but reiterated that Green leaving the floor was a personal choice. He didn’t send Green to the locker room.
“We got into it, obviously … We had it out a little bit, and he made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off,” Kerr said. “That’s all I’m gonna say about it, everything is private. I’ve got nothing further to add.”
Green did return to the Warriors’ bench before the end of the game, but he did not take the floor again. He wasn’t going to, Kerr said.
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“Well, he left,” Kerr said plainly. “He went back to the locker room.”
Green finished with nine points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes on Monday night. He’s averaged eight points and six rebounds per game this season, his 14th in the league.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 26 points in the win, which pushed the team to 15-15 on the season. Jimmy Butler added 21 points, and Moses Moody finished with 20 points. Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 21 points and 12 rebounds in the loss, and Desmond Bane added 20 points. They shot just 7-of-27 from the 3-point line as a group, and now sit at 16-13 on the season.
Though Green has been known to get into some heated altercations throughout his career, he’s appeared to have had a great relationship with Kerr. The Warriors selected Green in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft, and he’s spent his entire career with the franchise. Kerr took over as the team’s head coach ahead of the 2014-15 campaign, and Green has been a key part of the four championships they’ve won at Golden State.
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Clearly, Green and Kerr aren’t on the same page right now. Though he didn’t fully get into the root of the argument, it was just the game that set Green off.
“Basketball. It’s what we do, we play basketball,” Green said when asked what caused their argument. “It’s an emotional game, people lose their emotions sometimes. It happens, it is what it is.
“We’ve been at this now for a long time. So, sometimes when you with people for a long time, there’s a level of comfort and s**t happens. We move forward.”
While the incident was out of character, both Green and Kerr seem confident that they can move forward.
“We need Draymond. He’s a champion,” Kerr said. “We’ve been together for a long time … It’s unfortunate what happened, but it happened.”
