Warriors’ Draymond Green explains why he left bench amid heated Steve Kerr debate

SAN FRANCISCO, CA– While the Golden State Warriors cruised to a 120-97 victory over the Orlando Magic, in maybe their cleanest win of what’s been a rocky season thus far, it wasn’t completely smooth sailing for a team trying to get their act together.

Midway through the third quarter, with the Warriors trailing 71-66, Steve Kerr called a timeout to reorganize the group after a stretch of unfocused basketball. It was there in the huddle that Kerr and Draymond Green got into a heated argument in the Dubs’ huddle, which resulted in Green leaving the bench and going into the team’s locker room.

Draymond gets sent to the lockers after heated debate w coach Kerr pic.twitter.com/hJ2KRuzawX

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“Tempers spilled over, and I thought it was best that I got out of there,” Green said. “I don’t think it was a situation that was going to get better. It was just best to remove myself.”

Green spent the final 8:31 of the third quarter in the locker room before returning to the bench, wearing a black warm-up jacket, where he would remain for the entirety of the fourth quarter. Green told reporters that he owed it to his teammates to return to the bench and support them. Brandin Podziemski said that Green shared his insight and words of encouragement while on the bench in the fourth.

Kerr confirmed that it was Green’s decision to leave the bench; he and the coaching staff did not send him to the locker room.

“We had it out a little bit,” Kerr said. “He made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off. That’s all I’m going to say about it. Everything is private.”

While neither Green nor Kerr shared the details of their heated exchange, Green said that the argument stemmed from “basketball” and the nature of the sport.

“It’s what we do. We play basketball,” Green said. “It’s an emotional game. People lose their emotions. Sometimes it happens, and it is what it is. We’ve been at this for a long time. So sometimes [you’re] with people for a long time, there’s a level of comfort, and s**t happens. We move forward.”

How Golden State responded after Green’s benching

It was the second straight game Green departed the game prematurely. Green was ejected in the second quarter of the Warriors’ 119-116 win over the Phoenix Suns this past Saturday. It was the second straight game the Warriors were forced to rally without their defensive anchor and core veteran.

“There’s a sense of urgency when [Green] is not out there,” Curry said. “The margin of error goes down without his presence. That’s the frustrating part about this whole thing. Being 15-15, we feel like we’re playing better than your record shows, because we can respond.”

After Green subbed out at the 8:31 mark of the third quarter, the Warriors responded by outscoring the Magic 54-26 the rest of the way. Fueled by Stephen Curry’s 26 points, which included 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 in the third quarter, and Jimmy Butler’s 21 points, the Dubs blitzed Orlando and never looked back.

They got a strong performance from Moses Moody, who added 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Brandin Podziemski continued his steadier play as of late, tallying a career-high +36 plus/minus.

Everything that happened on the court for Golden State could point to a team learning from its early-season mistakes. A team on the verge of turning things around. But Green and Kerr’s argument overshadowed much of the positives the Dubs built over the last two games, including how the Warriors got back to .500 on the season.

“The questions are a little bit more negative than they should be,” Curry said. “I get why you’re asking them, but downstairs right now, the DJ has a good playlist going, the guys are getting their work in, and we’re having a good time because we’re winning.”

Will this latest episode linger over the Warriors?

Green and Kerr’s exchange is certainly not the first time the two have gotten into a heated argument.

During the 2016 season, in which the Dubs went 73-9, Green and Kerr got into it with each other in the locker room at halftime of the Warriors’ highly competitive game with the Oklahoma City Thunder in February. ESPN’s Lisa Saulters reported that Green repeatedly shouted at Kerr, “I am not a robot!” despite many attempts by Kerr and Green’s teammates to calm him down.

But heated moments between Green and Kerr, like this latest one, are formulated into the equation of their 12-season relationship– especially given their competitive natures.

“We won a lot of championships together, lot of success,” Green said. “He’s had a lot of success as a coach. I’ve had a lot of success as a player. Those things can never be taken away. We’ll continue to do to win games, and that’s the most important thing.”

For Green, moments of frustration can be good for a team– if channeled in the right way.

“I think if you know if your frustration is about doing the right things and everything moving the right direction. It’s not going to always be as vanilla as you want it to be. So I think that’s how you make sure it’s positive. As long as it’s directed towards what the main goal is, and everybody can figure it out and work through it. If it’s not directed at that, you kind of sink.”

But whether this specific incident lingers over the Warriors, and their quest to turn this middling season around, remains to be seen. Kerr, Green, and Curry all expressed that they don’t expect this incident to hover over the team moving forward.

“We need Draymond, and he’s a champion. We’ve been together for a long time,” Kerr expressed. “It’s unfortunate what happened, but it happened.”

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