When asked about his favorite player, Draymond Green once said, “Shai.” He praised the Thunder star’s ability to score at will and turn foul-drawing into an art form. “If you’re a dumb defender and you foul, that’s your fault,” he added. But fast-forward to today’s game, and Green himself was the defender. This time, he felt the full force of SGA’s dominance. So, after getting a taste of his own advice, is Draymond still a fan of the opposing team’s guard?

Well, he doesn’t really seem okay with it – not even a little. As Draymond Green fell straight into Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s trap, all he could say afterwards was, “THAT’S F*CKING AWFUL!”

This was a foul as per the league’s latest rule change. We all know that a player cannot be hit on the hand during their shooting motion, but the new rules say that if the player is hit after their release, it can still count as a foul, which has been termed the ‘High-five rule’.

But it’s also a known fact that SGA gets to the free-throw line a lot, often drawing controversial fouls in nearly every game. Against the Golden State Warriors, it was no different. At one point, OKC was up 69–55 at the 8:41 mark in the third quarter. SGA attacked the paint against a collapsing Warriors defense.

Defending him was Kuminga, and clearly, Shai’s seen hooking an arm in to draw a foul. Kuminga looked tense, scattered, and reactive, scrambling just to stay in front of the ball. Then came another moment – OKC up 89–85 late in the third. SGA isolated at the top of the key with plenty of floor space. What followed was a sharp, aggressive dribble move that sent his defender stumbling.

Though some calls looked questionable, the whistle kept blowing – and that only fueled the frustration. Maybe that’s the reason why Draymond reacted the way he did after that call. What made it even more painful for Golden State was that they had a real chance. When Jimmy Butler exited the game due to a knee injury, the Warriors didn’t collapse. Despite digging themselves into a 22-point hole by the third quarter, their furious comeback nearly changed everything. They erased the entire deficit over the course of the second half and even took the lead in the fourth.

But OKC had one final answer- and it came from Gilgeous-Alexander again, who’s averaging 32.5 points this season. Though there were other players, too, who played an important role, the spotlight remained on SGA. By the end of the night, he had 38 points, and the Thunder had the win 124-112. He went to the free-throw line 10 times and made seven of them, accounting for seven of OKC’s 17 total makes at the stripe. But the most affected player was clearly Draymond Green, who picked up five fouls.

But is it something new? Alexander is one of the NBA’s premier offensive threats. His ball handling is elite. He creates scoring chances for himself and puts his teammates in rhythm. But more than anything, he manipulates defenders brilliantly – shifting momentum in OKC’s favor with subtle contact, timely drives, and smart positioning.

And this storyline repeats almost every other night. Even former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone gave him a nickname: “foul artist.” SGA initiates contact, hooks arms, and seeks bumps – all to get to the line. During the 2024–25 season, he averaged 8.8 free-throw attempts per game, the highest in the league, all while shooting 89.8% from the stripe. Anyway, the new rules by which Green was called for a foul are something GSW HC Steve Kerr welcomed with open arms.

Steve Kerr thought the Warriors would benefit the most

“The last few years, we’ve really let defenders get away with fouling jump shooters on the hand. We call everything down low, but guys have been allowed to foul jump shooters and so they’re tweaking the rules on that. They’re not allowing as much contact. The shooter is now able to follow through. The reason for the high-five rule is that, when the guy’s shooting, they literally would get high-fived, and that’s now going to be a foul,” Kerr said ahead of the season on the rule change. And it makes sense coming from him.

Steph Curry has been the player on the receiving end of such ‘high-fives’ the most. He is a master of creating separation from the defender to get open, and in that process, the defenders are often left scrambling trying to close the gap. This leads to Curry getting hit after he has released the ball, which was rarely called a foul. But now, things have changed.

As Kerr further put it, “The other one where you release the shot and the guy comes in and just hammers you on the wrist a full second after. That was a play that the players were just taking advantage of because of the rules and we’re not going to allow that anymore, which is great because I think there was a risk of players getting hurt, so protecting shooters seems to be the main theme.”

Shai didn’t need to draw a foul in this case with Green. But it might take some time for players to come to terms with these new rules. What do you think about the call?