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 Herb 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 one another, with the fan holding his arms out on each side.
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.
Sam Green said his namesake NBA star shouted profanity at him and threatened to punch him out if he continued the “Angel Reese” taunts (a refence 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.
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.
READ MORE:Warriors star Draymond Green has confrontation with Pelicans fan during game in New Orleans
