Golden State star Draymond Green on Thursday expressed his regret for getting ejected again — this time, less than four minutes into the game — in the Warriors' win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
“This can’t be happening,” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show” on Thursday. “I said what I said. I deserved to get sent off at that point. If I'm being honest with all of you, I was trying to turn my body and turn it into the bench, but I said what I said too soon before I hit my body…but, yeah, no “It could happen.”
Green was tweeting at official Ray Acosta after he was called for his first personal foul. Several plays later, after Stephen Curry was called for a shooting foul, Green approached Acosta and began yelling at him. Acosta issued a technical foul, and when Green didn't stop, Acosta gave him another foul, ending his night at 8:24 of the first quarter.
It was Green's fourth career sack of the season — and his second in the first quarter. He is the first player to be ejected at least four times in a season since Kevin Durant was ejected five times in 2017-18, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
This was also Green's 19th regular-season ejection, the second-most in NBA history over the past 25 seasons, behind Rasheed Wallace (25).
“I'm not going to overreact, like, 'Oh man!'” Green said on his podcast. “Things are never as good as they seem, and they're never as bad as they seem. I know where I am. And I understand what I'm doing going forward. My position is to make sure this is the exception and not the rule.”
Crew chief Mitchell Irvin told a pool reporter after the game that Green earned the second technical foul because “after a lengthy diatribe, Green directed an obscene, obscene slur toward the game official.” Irvin said Green's history “certainly” had no influence on the decision to award two technical fouls.
Green's actions this season — including putting Minnesota Timberwolves forward Rudy Gobert in foul trouble in November and hitting Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the head in December — and several other incidents last season were taken into account by the two suspensions Green served this season. .
Green was suspended five games for the Gobert incident and then missed 16 games as part of an indefinite suspension before returning in January.
ESPN's Kendra Andrews contributed to this report.
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