Earlier today, Kristaps Porzingis announced stepping away from basketball. The decision comes after the Golden State Warriors star has been away from the team and has a prior diagnosis of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), an autonomic disorder, with ongoing related health issues. Before this decision, Draymond Green had already spoken about what it felt like in the locker room with his Latvian teammate.

Porzingis has not trained or been seen at any of the practice sessions and has not appeared on the bench during the Warriors’ 6-3 start. Green wanted to emphasize the next-man-up mentality of the team amid KP’s absence. But fans on social media are certainly not in favor of the choice of words that have been used.

“Since I’ve been here on this team, it’s never been about bickering, never about ‘Shame on this guy,’ ‘Shame on that guy,’” Green told The Athletic. “We’ve never had that culture here. So the same goes for Kristaps Porzingis. No one’s sitting around bashing this guy or even worried about him, for that matter. In our minds, we’ve moved forward with the players that we have here.

“(Does) everyone in here think he can help us? Of course. We know what type of player he is. But I don’t think anyone in here is sitting around waiting on him to walk through that door. Everybody’s moved on in their mindset.”

So far, no issues with this statement. Later Draymond Green would praise teammates Charles Bassey and Graham Ike for stepping up. But the way he concluded is drawing reactions from the fans. “So you embrace those guys, and you pour into those guys, to try to help them with all that they can be helped with so that they could ultimately help this team. But you can’t sit and worry about spoiled milk.”

This was before Kristaps Porzingis announced he was stepping back to focus on his health. And it seems Draymond Green had no intention of bad-mouthing his teammate. But the statement and its timing have certainly given the scenario an insensitive look.

Fans shocked with Green amid Kristaps Porzingis issues

In his statement about stepping away, KP did not confirm that he is suffering from POTS. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Warriors star’s absence from the team remained a headline. So fans started criticizing Green for not being careful with his word choice.

One comment read, “Crazy to say about a teammate with POTS.” Another netizen wrote, “So he mad at a player for being sick?”

Draymond Green previously made headlines for similar insensitive remarks towards Karl-Anthony Towns. On his podcast in 2025, the Warriors star speculated that KAT missed a Warriors game to avoid Jimmy Butler. However, later it was revealed that the Knicks star was mourning a family friend’s cancer death. For Towns, it reopened wounds from losing his mother and other relatives to COVID-19 in 2020.

A fan used this previous issue to highlight why they were not shocked by Draymond Green’s insensitive remarks. “Yall shocked about this look What he said about KAT after his mom died during covid.”

Another netizen knew that Kristaps Porzingis had little to no contact with any of his teammates. Or there is a lack of reporting on that matter. That’s why a netizen was confused about why KP’s health concerns were not given greater importance.

“I get that we don’t have all the info about what’s going on in the locker room etc, but talking like that about a guy who is apparently sick??? Honestly, I don’t get it”.

But a fan backed Draymond Green. “Lmfao he obviously means no point in complaining about stuff that can’t be changed.”

Again, even if the Warriors’ locker room is not looking for excuses for injuries or absences, the term “spoiled milk” did not go well with the fans.