He is who he is, take him or leave him.
Golden State Warriors star and occasional bad boy Draymond Green stepped over the line and has been fined $50,000 for a comment he made questioning the integrity of the officials, the league announced Wednesday.
The comments were made during Golden State’s Game 3 loss on Saturday to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their Western Conference semifinal series.
After picking up his sixth foul and fouling out of the game, Green stayed on the sideline to support his team in a nip-and-tuck battle. The four-time champion made the flagrant comment in the closing seconds of the game with Golden State trailing by six.
A broadcast clip went viral on social media, in which Green appears to mouth the words “five-and-a-half” and “spread” while gesturing with his five fingers, referring to the point spread of 5.5 points among sportsbooks for Game 3, sources told ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania. The Warriors went on to lose by five points, 102-97.
The fine comes as the Warriors are on the brink of elimination after the Timberwolves took a 3-1 lead with a 117-110 win in Game 4 on Monday. Green is putting up solid numbers, averaging 9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in these playoffs.
Green has gone over the edge several times and received a league-high five technical fouls this postseason and would have to serve a mandatory one-game suspension if the total reaches seven. He also has been whistled for two flagrant fouls.
Embed from Getty ImagesAccording to Spotrac, Green has been fined $992,000 in his career, with $185,000 coming for actions toward officials. He also has been stripped of $3.2 million for suspensions.
Golden State beat the Memphis Grizzlies in the Play-In Tournament to secure a No. 7 seed and advanced in the first round after nearly squandering a 3-1 series lead against the Houston Rockets, who were the No. 2 overall seed.
Minnesota has a chance to close out the series in Game 5 on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
