Draymond Green confronts Pelicans fan courtside over ‘Angel Reese’ chant: ‘I can’t keep calling myself a woman’
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green got into an argument with a fan sitting courtside Sunday night after the man kept referring to him as WNBA star Angel Reese.
Green, in the first half of the Warriors’ 124-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, confronted a fan sitting at the Smoothie King Center. That fan, who identified himself as Sam Green to the Associated Press, heckled Green throughout the contest. Then, as the players prepared to line up for a free throw in the first half, Green approached the fan and got right in his face.
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Officials and teammates quickly separated the two. The fan received a warning, Green was not hit with a penalty and the match continued as normal. The two could not hear each other, but it was clear that they were having a heated discussion.
After the game, Green said the fan was hitting him with a chant of “Angel Reese.” At the time, he had seven rebounds but hadn’t attempted a single shot.
“It was a good joke at first, but you can’t keep calling me a woman,” Green said, via Sam Gordon of the San Francisco Chronicle. “I have four children and one on the way. I can’t keep calling myself a woman. But he calmed down, so everything was fine.”
Someone pointed out to Green that Reese is one of the best rebounders in the WNBA.
“Yeah, sure, but…Lisa Leslie was a good rebounder too, and she’s older than me,” she responded. “Just don’t be disrespectful, it’s okay. We’ll move on.”
Sam Green said he had done nothing wrong and that Draymond had used foul language toward him and threatened to punch him.
“I wasn’t using any profanity, and for him to walk 12 feet from the field to come and get in my face like that, it was a little unnerving,” Sam Green told the Associated Press.
Reese, who dominated at LSU before entering the league, averaged 13.1 rebounds per game as a rookie and 12.6 per game last season with the Chicago Sky. Those led the league in both seasons.
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Green finished the night with eight points and 10 rebounds. He went 3-of-13 from the field. The Warriors cruised to the 18-point win without too much trouble. The Pelicans, led by 20 points from Trey Murphy, fell to 2-11 on the year.
Green has had issues with fans before in his career. He was fined $25,000 in 2022 for directing “obscene language toward a fan” during a game against the Dallas Mavericks.
“As long as it doesn’t get worse, it’s fine [for a player] “To go there and discuss,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, via the Associated Press, declining to elaborate on the incident specifically. “It would have been nice if security had arrived a little earlier.”
The Warriors (9-6) have won three straight games. Next Tuesday they will face the Orlando Magic (7-7).