The Golden State Warriors won an NBA-record 73 games last season and should have won a championship had they not blown a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. But that doesn’t mean it was all unicorns and rainbows in the Bay Area.
ESPN the Magazine released a lengthy feature Wednesday on Draymond Green, the Warriors’ talented but often unpredictable All-Star forward. The story doesn’t do Green any favors, detailing his frequent run-ins with teammates and head coach Steve Kerr. Ex-Warriors big man Marreese Speights even claimed Green’s antics “hurt the whole chemistry of the year.”
But the craziest part of the story involves Green’s locker room confrontation with Kerr at halftime of Golden State’s Feb. 27 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, which was broadcast nationally on ESPN.
From ESPN.com:
“Inside the visitors locker room, (Green) is hollering ‘I am not a robot!’Â at Kerr. When Kerr tells him to sit down, Green screams, ‘Motherf—er, come sit me down!’Â When he goes after Kerr, his teammates, including (Stephen) Curry and (Klay) Thompson, step in to stave off disaster.”
Green got so loud that ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters could hear him shouting outside the locker room. Incredibly, Salters later revealed that local police officers even were considering intervening.
“I’m standing outside the locker room with the Oklahoma City police, which are always stationed outside of every locker room,” Salters told ESPN. “They kind of moved me aside, and the officer just kind of stood by the door, with his hand on his weapon like he was trying to determine what he should do. It was clear that something bad was about to happen in this locker room. We’ve never heard anything like this before.”
NBA locker room spats aren’t uncommon and sometimes can be overblown, but when law enforcement is thinking about getting involved, that’s anything but routine.
The Warriors still are the league’s prohibitive favorites after adding Kevin Durant this offseason, but it looks like even dream teams have their imperfections.
Thumbnail photo via Mark D. Smith/USA TODAY Sports Images
