by MILWAUKEE — A fan was kicked out after arguing with Draymond Green during Tuesday night’s Golden State Warriors-Milwaukee Bucks game at the Fiserv Forum.
A side-seat fan squeezed Green as Giannis Antetokounmpo lined up for two free throws with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter of the Bucks’ 128-111 final win.
According to the Warriors forward, the fan said “some things are threatening my life”.
Green responded to the fan several times before returning to the other end of the court when the game restarted. He said that he almost got into it with the fan, but managed to keep his cool.
At the next stop — Stephen Curry’s double free throw at 5:19 — Green reported what had happened to a referee. The referee provided safety and the fan was ejected from the game.
Later, the Bucks said in a statement that the dismissal was “off the subject of the referee” and that they were “investigating the situation and talking to the NBA.”
Meanwhile, Green discussed what happened and how he coped with it.
“Some people look at NBA players like they’re superhuman,” he said. “They’re bigger-than-life figures. So you come and say something to someone and they get punished. They go home and have a laugh with their friends.”
“I think it’s one of those things where you can hold back and go to the referee and take them out, that’s great.”
Tuesday wasn’t Green’s first time with a fan this season. A little over a week ago, he was fined $25,000 for having a verbal argument with a fan in Dallas.
After the incident on November 29, Green told ESPN he wasn’t sure what else the league could do to ensure good fan behavior and protect players that it hasn’t done so far.
He reiterated that sentiment on Tuesday, but also made it clear he knew it wasn’t an issue the league was ignoring. Where he has trouble with the NBA is “when they jump in and punish guys for saying something… I think when you see guys getting fined, that’s usually a license for more people to do that.”
Green said he felt it needed something or someone outside of the NBA to make a real change in fan etiquette.
“There are no real results,” Green said. “Yeah, you can’t go back to the game or even if you get arrested nothing really happens… You just hope these leagues get to a point where they can work with legislators to enforce the law, because that’s the only thing.” that will really fix the problem.”
Jamal Collier of ESPN contributed to this report.
