Draymond Green Calls Out Domantas Sabonis for Not Shaking Hands After Game 7

The Golden State Warriors forward let his feelings be known about the Sacramento Kings All-Star on a postgame podcast.

Draymond Green wasted no time recording his podcast after the Warriors’ 120–100 win over the Kings in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series and took the opportunity to call out Sacramento forward Domantas Sabonis for not shaking hands after the game. 

“Lost a lot of respect for Sabonis,” Green said on The Draymond Green Show. “You don’t shake guys’ hands after you lose, I don’t respect that. I once left the court when we lost in Game 7 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I went to my locker room and I sat down and I said, ‘This don’t feel right,’ and I walked back out on the court and I showed everybody love. You lost. Deal with it. Pay your respect.”

"Lost a lot of respect for Sabonis. You don't shake guys hands after you lose? I don't respect that… You lost, deal with it. Pay your respect."

— Draymond Green

(via @TheVolumeSports)pic.twitter.com/34OfVkYOkd

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 1, 2023

Green was referring to the 2016 NBA Finals when the Warriors’ historic 73–9 season was sullied by LeBron James’s leading his team back from a 3–1 deficit to win it all on Golden State’s home floor. Naturally, the loss stung, but Green says he still shook hands with the Cavs afterward.

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Green and Sabonis battled all series, and things escalated in Game 2 when Green was ejected for stomping on Sabonis’s chest while he was on the ground, prompting Green to receive a Flagrant 2 foul. Sabonis was assessed a technical foul for grabbing Green’s ankle while on the ground. But in the end, the four-time champion got the last word. 

“I wouldn’t necessarily even say lost respect,” Green continued. “I don’t respect that, and that’s wack.”