After Draymond Green picked up his fifth technical foul of these playoffs during last night’s Wolves clash, he was visibly frustrated by the call. He even got into the official’s face and began yelling at him before Steve Kerr subbed him out. “The agenda trying to make me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous.” Green said post-game, fed up by the alleged agenda of making him look a certain way.

His comments sparked a major controversy, and Stephen A. Smith hopped on his podcast to address the issue, “I thought about what I wanted to say about this particular subject because to be quite honest with you, it’s pretty delicate and I think this is something that needs to be mentioned off the top right here. When we are talking about Draymond Green, there’s two stories to tackle here. One is the reported racial epithet thrown in his direction while he was on a bicycle during the game.”

Yes, the ESPN veteran pointed out a key incident from last night’s game. While Draymond was on the sidelines riding a stationary bike, he appeared to have a heated exchange with a fan. Reports revealed that the fan was later ejected for directing racial slurs at Green. Stephen A. hinted that the exchange might have played a part in Green’s post-game frustration. Then, he revisited similar fan interactions that have tested other players’ patience in the past, specifically the one with LeBron James four years ago.

“That’s not the first time this has happened… I’ll never forget when LeBron James was in Atlanta and he had a fan removed from the game. LeBron has never done something like that. To call for a fan to be removed from the game, they certainly said some out-of-pocket stuff to him,” the analyst remarked. Well, Smith was likely referring to LeBron’s heated altercation with some courtside fans in Atlanta during a Hawks game. After the Lakers star got into a verbal spat with them, the fans were ejected from the game.

James even addressed the altercation once the game got over. “They might have had a couple drinks, maybe. And they could have probably kept it going during the game, and the game wouldn’t have been about the game no more, so I think the referees did what they had to do,” he said. Stephen A.’s sole purpose in bringing up the LeBron incident was to show that fans can go a bit too far sometimes. He also brought up other incidents, like the time when a fan dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook while he was heading to the locker room, and when some fans targeted Allen Iverson with racial slurs during a Pacers game while Stephen A. was a beat writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Keeping these instances in mind, Smith understood why Draymond reacted the way he did, “I don’t know enough of the facts, but I do know that if the team and the arena security felt compelled to remove the fan and it was verified that something racial had been said to Draymond Green, I don’t blame him for being pissed off.” However, the ESPN veteran also highlighted Draymond’s role in the issue.

Stephen A. Smith empathizes with Draymond Green but urges him to take accountability for his role in controversial reputation

After bringing up past incidents between players and fans, Stephen A. dove into a deeper issue: “The other thing about the angry Black man, I think it’s important to point this out. Why I gotta be angry Black man? I’m not talking about Draymond Green saying that. I’m saying white men don’t get angry? Latinos don’t get angry?… I remember for years I was considered the angry Black man.” Yes, he pointed out the stark difference in how people of different races are perceived in society.

He continued, “The experiences that you have in America, if not this world, as a Black man, are pretty unique. And so, when Draymond spoke about that, there’s a level of empathy that should be touched on. It should be felt. It should be required.” So, Smith understood why Draymond feels there is an ongoing agenda to portray him as an “angry Black man.” But he also understood that Green’s actions had played a part in it.

“We’re not gonna go all in on supporting what Draymond Green said without showing that he has some level of culpability in all of this too… I don’t think Draymond is lying. I think there’s validity to what he’s saying. I just think he has to appreciate the fact that he’s provided folks to feel like they have validity in accusing him of such things,” Smith reasoned.

Last night’s technical foul on Naz Reid was not a one-off incident. Over the years, Green has committed several acts that have been deemed “unsportsmanlike” by the league. Most notably, his physical altercations with Rudy Gobert and Jusuf Nurkić led to two separate suspensions. Moreover, Green has the second-most ejections in NBA history, only behind Rasheed Wallace. And he has 37 playoff techs in his career, most by any player since Draymond got drafted. So, a lot of his actions have played a part in how he is perceived by the hoop community.

However, hurling someone with racial slurs like the fan did last night is never the solution. What are your thoughts about Draymond’s comments?