Golden State star Draymond Green on Thursday expressed regret for again being ejected — this time, less than four minutes into the game — in the Warriors’ victory against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
“It just can’t happen,” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show” podcast Thursday. “I said what I said. I deserved to be kicked out at that point. If I’m all the way honest with y’all, kind of was trying to turn my body and angle it to go to the bench, but I said what I said a little too soon before angling my body. … But, yeah, it just can’t happen.”
Green had been chirping at official Ray Acosta after being called for his first personal foul. A few plays later, after Stephen Curry was called for a shooting foul, Green approached Acosta and began yelling at him. Acosta issued a technical foul, and when Green didn’t stop, Acosta gave him another, ending his night at the 8:24 mark of the first quarter.
It was Green’s career-high fourth ejection of the season — and his second in the first quarter. He is the first player to be ejected at least four times in a season since Kevin Durant was tossed five times in 2017-18, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
It was also Green’s 19th career regular-season ejection, the second most in NBA history over the past 25 seasons behind Rasheed Wallace (25).
“I’m not going to overreact, like, ‘Oh man!'” Green said on his podcast. “Stuff is never as good as it seems; it’s never as bad as it seems. I know where I am. I understand what I’m doing moving forward. And my position is just make sure that’s the exception and not the rule.”
Crew chief Mitchell Ervin told a pool reporter after the game that Green was given the second technical foul because “after a prolonged diatribe, Green directed egregious profane vanguard towards a game official.” Ervin said Green’s history “absolutely” did not have an impact on the decision to hand out two technical fouls.
Green’s actions this season — including putting Minnesota Timberwolves forward Rudy Gobert in a headlock in November and hitting Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the head in December — and several other incidents last season were taken into account for the two suspensions Green served this campaign.
Green was suspended five games for the Gobert incident and then missed 16 games as part of an indefinite suspension before returning in January.
ESPN’s Kendra Andrews contributed to this report.