While the NBA world debated the sportsmanship of Dejounte Murray’s viral taunt, Draymond Green cut through the noise with a characteristically blunt verdict.

The New Orleans Pelicans have been making waves lately in the Western Conference. And a big reason for their success is the return of their star guard Dejounte Murray, who gave the fans yet another memorable moment.

After being hounded for the entire fourth quarter by Toronto’s Jamal Shead, he broke free from midcourt with just over a minute remaining on the clock on Thursday night with the Pelicans comfortably leading. He then delivered a devastating crossover that sent the Raptors guard tumbling to the ground. Murray then buried a three-pointer. But that wasn’t the most humiliating part.

Following this play, the Pelicans star stood over Shead, flexing and taunting him. This move from Dejounte Murray not only resulted in a technical foul but also in a lot of controversy, leaving the fans and analysts divided over his actions.

“For Dejounte to do that, you had to be talking. You had to be doing something,” Green said on the latest episode of his podcast, before sending a strong message to the people who were against Murray’s actions. “Right. So shout out to Dejounte. I love what happened. I see people like he did, too much. Shut up. I ain’t out there on the court. He did too much. He shouldn’t have done that. F–k out of here,” he further said.

The former Defensive Player of the Year and Murray’s close friend explained that the New Orleans Pelicans guard isn’t an aggressive player. So, Shead must be trash-talking to him. Now, that’s something we cannot truly confirm until either Murray or Shead confesses. Still, even if the Raptors guard wasn’t trash-talking, Draymond Green doesn’t see anything wrong with what Murray did.

After all, it’s incidents like these that add a layer of excitement to the game. Especially given the fact that the one-time All-Star guard has been on the sidelines for almost 13 months before returning recently. So, it’s only natural for him to feel the adrenaline rush in his veins after making such an ankle-breaking move. But that’s not how everyone views this as a Toronto insider urged the Raptors for a much harsher response.

Raptors insider says Toronto should have ‘sent a message’ to Dejounte Murray

While the entire New Orleans Pelicans fanbase, as well as the neutrals, such as Draymond Green, loved the energy shown by Dejounte Murray, that’s not how Toronto Raptors insider Josh Lewenberg saw it. In his eyes, the moment that went viral for its offensive ruthlessness and attitude was disrespectful to the Raptors, and they should’ve responded accordingly.

“Well, I don’t think it needed to have turned into a fight the way it may have during the days of Charles Oakley, when every team had its own physical veteran enforcer,” he said. “But I do think there needs to be some response, some pushback to send a message to not only New Orleans but to the rest of the teams that says, ‘You are not going to punk us like this.’ If you show guys that you can get walked all over, and in this case, literally, then teams are gonna try you.”

Though the NBA has moved away from the 1990s era of enforcers, Lewenberg does pose a solid argument here, as the recent weeks have shown us that teams are willing to get physical. Over the past few weeks, we’ve witnessed multiple brawls. From Nikola Jokic getting into it with OKC Thunder’s Lu Dort to the Pistons-Hornets brawl that resulted in multiple suspensions.

This goes to show that teams are trying to enforce their dominance and aren’t backing down from a fight. While many might view this negatively, in others’ eyes, this means that everyone wants to win and is ready to give their all on the court. So, should the Toronto players have held Dejounte Murray accountable then and there? That’s a tough one to answer.