Warriors’ Draymond Green in Hot Water Over Interaction With Fan

Getty Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green reacts during a playoff game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Draymond Green’s wallet is taking a hit after a testy interaction with a fan during a game earlier in the week.

The NBA announced on Thursday that the Golden State Warriors big man was slapped with a $25,000 fine for “directing obscene language toward a fan” during the team’s November 29 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The fine is the latest punishment for Green, who has found himself in trouble for past behavior on the court but also criticized the NBA for giving fans too much leeway to abuse players.

Green in Trouble

The fine was the result of a back-and-forth interaction that Green had with a fan at the start of the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s game. While it wasn’t revealed exactly what Green said, the fan in question came forward to show some support for the Warriors forward and disagree with the NBA for slapping him with a fine.

As reporter Rachel Nichols noted, the fan involved in the incident is Alykhan Rehmatullah, a tech executive who was featured in Forbes in 2020 after a startup he created sold for $60 million. After the NBA announced the fine, Rehmatullah offered to make a matching donation of $25,000 to the charity of Green’s choice.

“@Money23Green I’m the guy you yelled at,” he tweeted. “Shouldn’t be like that, we were just having fun. I’ll match the $25k to your favorite charity, or @nbacares, your call lmk!”

Green has been fined a number of times for his on-court conduct and fouls, nearing the $1 million mark in career fines. When an outlet reported just after NBA Finals last season that Green was within $6,000 of hitting seven figures, the Warriors big man responded.

“This is unfortunate!!” Green tweeted. “I thought I was already there.”

The Warriors went on to lose Tuesday’s game 116-113, dropping back to .500 after they had gone on an 8-3 streak to pull to 11-10 on the season. The game also ended with a bit of controversy, with Warriors guard Steph Curry being called for a traveling violation before attempting what would have been a game-tying three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining.

Though some believed that the call was incorrect, Curry put the blame on himself after the game.

“Bang, bang situation,” Curry said after the game. “Dumb play by me to not take the layup. I got a little confused on what the time and score was. Going for the hero shot. I didn’t think it was a travel to the point where let the play run out. But who am I to say?”

Green Has Criticized Fan Conduct

Green has been vocal in the past about what he saw as a failure on the league’s part to prevent fan abuse of players. After a fan ran onto the court during the Minnesota Timberwolves’ win over Memphis Grizzlies in Game 4 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series last season, Green called out the NBA for not keeping players safe.

“They have to start prosecuting these people. Only a matter of time before someone hit them. Then the athlete gets sued,” he tweeted.

He has also said the NBA is too lenient on fans who hurl verbal abuse at players. Green spoke about the issue with Shaquille O’Neal on “The Big Podcast” in June 2021, saying the league allows fans to say whatever they want to players but punishes players who respond.

“The NBA has taken it so far left to where a guy says, ‘F*** you,’ and you say, ‘F*** you’ back, you’ll get fined,” Green said. “It’s like, where is the protection for the players?”