Draymond Green has been on his best behavior since returning from an indefinite NBA suspension on Jan. 15, but the Warriors forward couldn’t pass up a chance Saturday night to share an odd interaction with a referee.
Following the Warriors’ 141-134 overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena, Green finished his postgame press conference by directing a comment at The Athletic’s Anthony Slater.
“Slater, I had a referee tell me all contact to the head ain’t a foul,” Green said as he stood up from the podium. “That was an interesting one tonight.”
Green was referring to a sequence from the second quarter against the Hawks in which Steph Curry missed a contested layup attempt and as the four-time NBA All-Star went for the rebound, Atlanta center Clint Capela appeared to hit him across the head, knocking him to the ground.
The Hawks gathered the rebound and drove down the court for a bucket, all while Green was behind the play. Warriors coach Steve Kerr called a timeout, allowing Green to engage referee Sean Corbin in an animated conversation.
Green’s interaction with Corbin comes a day after Kerr was assessed a technical foul for arguing with the referees in Memphis following a play in which Curry was hit on the head but no foul was called.
In his seventh game since returning, Green finished with seven points, eight assists, six rebounds and was a minus-7 in the loss.
The old, pre-suspension Green might have taken the conversation with Corbin too far and earned a technical foul, but on this night, he kept his cool and walked back to the Warriors’ bench before things could escalate.