Draymond Green is nothing short of an enigma in the current NBA landscape. The Golden State Warriors veteran loves to hog the limelight, and given his stature, it is mostly for the right reasons. But of late, it has been the opposite. He has been in the news for his awkward piggyback foul against DeAndre Jordan, and now he has repeated another dirty play against Houston Rockets star Jabari Smith Jr. The 36-year-old is gradually making this a norm, and netizens aren’t too happy about it.

The Warriors were on the road at Houston as they locked horns against the Rockets on Thursday. Despite the Dubs being shorthanded and missing multiple rotation players, they still emerged victorious thanks to strong performances from Brandin Podziemski and De’Anthony Melton. At the same time, others also made useful contributions. However, a dirty move from Draymond grabbed all the limelight.

In the third quarter, the Warriors veteran was criticized for a malicious play. In a dead-ball sequence, the former Defensive Player of the Year notoriously grabbed Jabari Smith Jr’s ankle while getting up on his feet with the Rockets star seemingly walking up. He was immediately handed a technical foul.

What made the sequence even worse was knowing Jabari had just returned from an ankle injury. He sustained a sprained ankle on February 26 against the Orlando Magic and missed the next two games for the Rockets. So doing such a thing with him was poor taste for someone of Draymond’s stature.

The broadcast team immediately criticized his move as they said, “Dray, I love you, but it was Golden State’s ball… why?! It’s cameras everywhere, too, Dray, they’re gonna see that.”

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While Draymond Green continues to deny that he is a dirty player, these types of plays suggest otherwise. The video of his ankle grab has gone viral on social media, making the fans furious.

Fans call Draymond Green names following dirty play vs Houston Rockets

Draymond Green is known for bringing physicality to the Golden State Warriors, and his presence has helped them win four championships. He is undoubtedly one of the legends of the game. But aside from his elite defense, rebounding, and physical prowess, he also has another side, known for his dirty plays, flagrant fouls, and technical fouls. On Thursday, he committed another dirty foul on Jabari Smith Jr, and fans were not happy with the Warriors veteran.

“If this guy keeps it up he’s going to get a reputation like Lu Dort,” a netizen commented under the video of the viral play made by Draymond. The fan here highlights how Draymond is becoming, day by day, like Oklahoma City Thunder star Luguentz Dort, who is also known for his dirty play.

He was recently involved in a brawl with Nikola Jokic and received a flagrant 2 foul for tripping the Denver Nuggets star. While Draymond is not far behind Dort in terms of reputation, we understand this fan’s emotions.

“The broadcast team’s reaction really summed up the collective confusion of every NBA fan watching,” another frustrated fan commented. The fan here points out how the broadcast team immediately criticized the Warriors star for his malicious move on Jabari.

They rightly pointed out that the 36-year-old ain’t getting away with these plays, as there are cameras everywhere. The frustration was clearly heard in their voices, and the fans shared the same sentiment.

“Suspend him rest of season without pay, it’s really not hard to fix the issue,” another netizen has come up with a unique solution to stop Draymond from pulling off these moves. The fan has urged the Warriors management to punish the veteran forward for his repeated technical fouls.

He has collected the third-most technical fouls (12 techs), at par with Detroit Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart, whereas only Luka Doncic (14) and Dillon Brooks (16) are ahead of him.

While some fans are straight-up attacking him, calling him names and demanding heavy punishments, another fan feels that Draymond’s actions are not to be taken seriously, as he is simply having fun. “He’s literally just trolling,” the fan wrote. Even if this is true, this isn’t helping the Dubs. In fact, these flagrant and technical fouls only break the rhythm of a team’s offense.

“Nothing new. Dirtiest player in the league,” another user on X expressed his personal opinion below the video. It is a major claim for any player, but given Draymond’s track record with fouls and ejections, it is not a baseless claim either.

Famous NBA analyst Skip Bayless has also called him the ‘dirtiest player in NBA history’ and, recently, on his appearance on the Draymond Green Show podcast, Bayless doubled down on his sentiment. So the user here is not the only one with that label.

In terms of the result, the Warriors have returned to winning ways after losing their last two games against the Lakers and the Clippers. They registered a 115-113 overtime win over the Houston Rockets with Podziemski and Melton recording 26 and 23 points, respectively.

Other than that, all five starters for the Dubs finished the night with double-digit scores, including Draymond’s 10 points, eight assists, and five rebounds across 35 minutes.

It is a big result for Steve Kerr, as he was without multiple star players and faced Kevin Durant’s Rockets, so it was indeed a statement win. But Draymond Green’s tendency to regularly pick up technical fouls will be a point of concern for the Dubs.