Draymond Green Says Ejected Fan Threatened His Life

The Warriors star discussed what the fan said, and the ongoing issue of player-fan interactions during NBA games.

Midway through the third quarter of the Warriors’ 128–110 loss at the Bucks on Tuesday, play was halted as Draymond Green asked referees to call security on a fan sitting courtside. The fan was eventually removed from Fiserv Forum.

The ejection took place after Green and the fan shouted at each other during a set of Milwaukee free throws. After the game, the Warriors forward said that the fan shouted “some threatening stuff to my life.”

“When I told the official what he said, he’s like, ‘He gotta get out of here. He gotta get out of here,’” Green continued.

Draymond Green on the situation that led to a fan ejection in Milwaukee tonight pic.twitter.com/YMG4X0OFNK

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 14, 2022

“Under the referee’s discretion, we are investigating the situation and we are conferring with the NBA,” the Bucks said in a statement after the game. 

The incident occurred just over a week after Green was fined $25,000 by the league for another mid-game incident with a fan in Dallas. While he was appreciative of the referees for removing the Milwaukee fan this time, he said that the fines from the league are “often a license for more people” to try and elicit a reaction from players.

“Some people look at NBA players like they’re superhuman,” he said, via ESPN. “That they’re this larger-than-life figure. So you come and you get someone to say something back and they get fined. They go home and laugh with their buddies.

“… There are no real consequences. Yeah, you can’t come back to the game, or even if you get arrested, nothing really happens … you just hope it gets to a point where these leagues can work with legislators to implement laws because that’s the only thing that’s really going to correct the issue.”