The Minnesota Timberwolves say they are investigating if a fan directed racially charged comments toward the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green during the fourth quarter of a playoff game Thursday night.
The incident, which the Timberwolves confirmed Friday, preceded Green making a brief postgame statement saying he has grown tired of what he believes is the perception of him being an “angry Black man.”
A fan, the Timberwolves said, was ejected after an incident with Green. The Timberwolves did not detail what happened in the incident, other than the fan violated “the NBA Fan Code of Conduct.” A video circulated on social media showing Green, riding a stationary bike in an effort to stay loose midway through the fourth quarter and with security near him, responding to something said by someone in the stands.
“A second individual, who was identified by surrounding patrons as making racially charged comments towards Green, left on his own before arena security could confirm his identity,” the Timberwolves said. “The team is continuing to investigate, and additional action may be taken.”
Green got his fifth technical foul of these playoffs earlier in Thursday’s game. He did not take questions afterward, giving only a brief statement to a small number of reporters in the locker room.
“I’m tired of the agenda to make me look like the angry Black man,” Green said, the entire session lasting only a few seconds. “I’m a very successful, educated Black man with a great family, and I’m great at basketball and great at what I do. The agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous.”
With that, Green walked away. It was not clear if he was responding to the technical foul, the fan interaction or both.
“The Timberwolves and Target Center are firmly committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful and safe environment for all,” the team’s statement said. “Racist, hateful or threatening behavior has no place at our games or in our community and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.”
Green — who has made headlines numerous times in his career for his physicality on the court — made that comment after the Warriors’ Game 2 loss Thursday night in which he got a technical foul after flailing his arms and making contact after getting fouled by the Timberwolves’ Naz Reid.
Officials reviewed the play after Reid fell to the floor, assessing the technical.
If Green gets two more technical fouls in these playoffs, he would face a mandatory one-game suspension by league rule. Green will receive a warning letter from the league now that he has five postseason technicals, which is standard NBA practice.
“It’s part of Draymond,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Thursday’s game when asked about the latest technical. “The same thing that makes him such a competitor and winner puts him over the top sometimes. We know that. It’s our job to try to help him stay poised, stay composed. But the competition is so meaningful to him that occasionally he goes over the line.”
The series resumes Saturday in San Francisco, knotted at a game apiece.
Including playoffs, according to data compiled by SportRadar, Green has been assessed 202 technical fouls in his career.
He has faced NBA discipline countless times. Among them: Green missed 16 games last season during a suspension for striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face during a Dec. 12, 2023, game; earned a five-game ban earlier that season after an altercation with Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert; stepped on the chest of the Sacramento Kings’ Domantas Sabonis and earned a suspension during the 2023 playoffs; and missed Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals because of an accumulation of flagrant-foul points during that postseason.