Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) looks on against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second half during game two of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center. Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Draymond Green rips 'agenda' to portray him as 'an angry Black man'

By Sai Mohan | Last updated May 9, 2025 8:34 AM ET

Draymond Green picked up his fifth technical foul of the 2025 NBA playoffs during the Warriors' 117-93 Game 2 loss to the Timberwolves on Thursday.

The incident occurred early in the second quarter when Timberwolves big Naz Reid fouled Green at the top of the key. Green flailed and elbowed Reid in the head. The referees reviewed the play and slapped Green with a dead-ball technical foul.

The call left Green irate, with Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr and other Warriors trying to calm him down. Kerr immediately benched Green and kept him out of the game for nearly six minutes.

After the game, Green ripped what he sees as an "agenda" to portray him as "an angry Black man."

"I'm not an angry Black man," Green said in the locker room, via The Athletic's Anthony Slater. "I'm a very successful, educated Black man with a great family. And I'm great at basketball, I'm 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."

Draymond Green just wanted to give one quick postgame statement: “The agenda to continue to keep making me look like an angry black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous.” pic.twitter.com/ay7TLFhjWL
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 9, 2025

Kerr refused to criticize Green after the game, suggesting that the Warriors know his actions are part of his basketball DNA.

"It's part of Draymond," Kerr said when asked if he's disappointed in Green. "The same thing that makes him such a competitor and a winner puts him over the top sometimes. We know that, and it's our job to try and help him stay poised, stay composed. But the competition is so meaningful to him that occasionally he goes over the line."

"It's part of Draymond."

— Steve Kerr on if he was disappointed after Draymond Green picked up his fifth technical foul of the postseason. pic.twitter.com/XLQqkWpktf
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 9, 2025

Green is just two more technical fouls, or two flagrant points, away from receiving an automatic one-game suspension. The emotional player has been suspended six times in his career, most recently for clocking Jusuf Nurkic in the face during the 2023-24 season.

The Warriors obviously can ill-afford to lose Green, their defensive leader and key offensive facilitator.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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