The Golden State Warriors pulled off a much-needed bounce-back win against the Utah Jazz, but one déjà vu moment caught all the attention. In the second quarter, veteran forward Draymond Green was ejected following an argument with the officials in a blink-and-you-miss-it sequence lasting less than 30 seconds. After the game, several team figures shed light on Green’s absence and a concerning pattern emerging around his ejections.

“I plead the fifth,” Jimmy Butler joked when asked about the ejection.

Butler also refuted the idea that the team performs better without Green on the floor.

“That ain’t the formula,” the Warriors star clarified. “We need ‘23’ out there… When you’re a man down, you really got to pick up everything. It’s genuinely hard to cover up what he does on both sides of the floor. ”

Butler stressed the importance of Green’s IQ, communication, and defensive impact, explaining how difficult it is for the team to compensate for his absence, especially on nights like tonight, when Butler says Green “started off hot.”

The incident itself unfolded pretty quickly… Green was irritated after Kyle Filipowski, his assignment, was parked in the paint for more than three seconds. He called out to official Simone Jelks, one of the referees, after giving up a dunk to the Jazz‘s Lauri Markkanen, and then received a technical.

Then, after continuing to engage with refs, official Kevin Cutler issued another one in a matter of seconds, ejecting Green from the game.

“I didn’t hear what he said,” Steve Kerr told reporters. “But I assume it was something that Kevin just wasn’t going to listen to… We need Draymond. I want him out there.”

What concerned Kerr more about the ejection wasn’t that it happened, but the growing issue of Green being ejected from games this season.

Stephen Curry, Warriors locker room push back on Draymond Green ejection

Butler and Kerr weren’t the only people to speak out on Draymond Green’s ejection. Superstar guard Stephen Curry made it clear that he was standing with Green, and from his own perspective, it simply went too far. Winning might have helped soften the blow, but it didn’t change how the moment was viewed.

“I don’t know what he said to the ref,” Curry told reporters. “But I didn’t think, the consensus in the locker room was there wasn’t enough to get thrown out.”

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The frustration clearly lingered, and Curry acknowledged that Green would obviously rather be on the floor than off. The most telling, though, was Curry’s final point.

The long-time Bay Area teammate wasn’t just defending a comrade, but echoing the wider sentiment felt around the locker room. This ejection marks Green’s 22nd career ejection, one of the highest for any player, with Rasheed Wallace sitting at first with 29 ejections.

Just two weeks ago, Green was tossed from a game against the Phoenix Suns for arguing a call as well, and tonight’s call brings him to nine techs for the season. He will get a one-game suspension if he reaches 16. It’s something that both the organization and the coaching staff need to monitor.