“I was horrified. I just remember, like, shaking, thinking I was gonna give birth,” said Shashana Rosen, Domantas Sabonis’ wife, in the aftermath of her husband’s viral on-court incident with Draymond Green. The Golden State Warriors star has, in the past, gotten physical with other players in the spirit of competitiveness, with incidents ranging from him punching rival LeBron James to even his teammate Jordan Poole. However, things went a different way when Green “took a hard step” on Sabonis’ chest in Game 2 of the thrilling first-round matchup, a move that ultimately led to him being suspended for 1 game and the series that went the distance with the Warriors clutching in Game 7. Now, 2 years after the incident, Green touches base on the same.

The Golden State Warriors’ power forward was the guest on one of renowned streamer Kai Cenat’s recent livestreams. During the same, the 23-year-old replayed the viral incident from April 2023, where Sabonis slipped and fell in the paint, grabbed Green’s right leg, culminating in the latter having to take a ‘hard’ step on the center’s chest after failing to shake off Sabonis’ grip. As a renowned NBA official would later reveal, the league could have looked the other way had it not been for the power forward’s reputation.

Green admitted “You gotta get him back” as the video ran. As Cenat asked for an explanation, the former DPOY defended himself by saying, “Why is he holding on to my ankle?” Watching the replay, Green kept pointing at the moment the Lithuanian star held him. As the streamer finally got a good look, the NBA star added that “That’s crazy. They don’t want you to see that part. See, what they want you to…. they don’t want you to see that”.

This isn’t the first time the Warriors star called out Sabonis for grabbing his leg. After their heated Game 2, Green argued that his actions were a culmination of having no choice ‘but to’ place his foot somewhere due to limited flexibility. “I can only step so far with someone pulling my leg away.” Green urged. He even went as far as calling the refs out, “Zach (Zarba) was clearly watching my leg get held this game and let it go, so I guess ankle grabbing is OK.”

Kai Cenat wasn’t done with showing just that one incident. He also went back a little bit more in time, to Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals. Draymond Green and LeBron James, who was playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers back then, reportedly got tangled up at half-court.

LeBron tried to step over Green to get back into the play, and Green’s arm ended up flailing to LeBron’s groin area. The incident resulted in Green’s 4th flagrant foul point of the postseason, and triggered an automatic suspension for Game 5. The nature of Green’s competitive dynamic was only brought into spotlight when he admitted “At that time, you want to take his head off… That’s just the competitor in us,” referring to their heated clashes, including their 2023 Round-Two matchup which saw GSW succumb to the LeBron led Lakers. As CBS Sports reporter Colin-Ward Henninger said, that altercation has “been nightmarishly replayed in the heads of Golden State Warriors fans for years”.

Once again, Green explained, saying that “If you fall down, and you’re getting up, and I put my leg on top of your shoulder, what are you gonna do?” He admitted that he doesn’t regret what he did, adding that “I wouldn’t want my son thinking that if someone did that to him it’s okay”.

Despite Draymond Green having an explanation for the actions he took against Domantas Sabonis, officials only hit the latter with a technical foul for grabbing Green’s leg. Green was given a Flagrant 2 and ejected. In the end, it did not matter, as the Warriors still managed to beat Sabonis’ Sacramento Kings in seven games during the first-round playoff series.

Joe Dumars Reveals Decision To Give Draymond Green Flagrant Foul Was “Difficult”

As NBA journalist Timothy Rapp stated in his recent report, the NBA “wasn’t interested in Green’s explanation at the time”, and the “cartoonishly blatant way he stomped on Sabonis” did not help make a case for him. Despite that, Joe Dumars, former NBA player and the then NBA executive vice president, was sympathetic. “This was not some snap-of-the-finger decision to do this,” said Dumars in an interview with The Associated Press. “There was much discussion, and back and forth, looking at the play itself over and over. And then ultimately we came to the decision that the act itself, and repeat offenses, actually did warrant a suspension.”

Green’s repeated events such as flailing his arms towards LeBron and him flailing his legs towards then Thunder center Steven Adams, including hitting former Clippers star Blake Griffin to the face with an elbow culminated in what led upto Joe Dumars’ decision.

He didn’t stop even after the Sabonis incident since, as of May 2025, Green has accumulated more than 200 technical fouls, and has been suspended six times.

The NBA doesn’t explicitly punish “reputations” but uses disciplinary measures to address actions that could reflect poorly on the league, indirectly affecting how players are perceived. Issues such as these, Green has called out fans for as a consequence. After Game 2 of the 2025 Western Conference Semifinals, against the Minnesota Timberwolves—Green recieved his fifth technical foul for flailing his arm and hitting forward Naz Reid in the face following a foul. Expressing frustration over his perceived portrayal, he urged:

“I’m not an angry Black man. I’m a very successful educated Black man with a great family, and I’m great at basketball, I’m great at what I do. The agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous.” 

So, it’s not been much of a surprise for Draymond to have such a headstrong stance over his replays, where he’s been alleged to make harsh plays.

“It wasn’t like it went completely unpunished,” Dumars said about Domantas Sabonis. “We didn’t think it rose to the level of Draymond’s play — excessive, over-the-top, dangerous, repeat offender. That’s the separation between what he did and what Draymond did.”

As Green argued, over the refs downplaying Sabonis’ initial leg pull, it’s apparent that the league takes a harder look at players with ‘reputation’—names such as Ja Morant, Ron Artest and Latrell Sprewell only strengthen it.

Do you feel that the punishment given to Draymond Green was justified? Did Domantas Sabonis also deserve a more severe punishment? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.