The sideline clash between Draymond Green and Steve Kerr is still getting talked about. But with apologies already out there and another win taken care of, the moment doesn’t feel nearly as heavy anymore. At this point, it’s something players can laugh about. And Jimmy Butler even had a pretty unusual way of explaining what it was like watching it all go down.

“I like that. Y’all yell at each other. Turned me on a little bit. I’m not gonna lie,” Butler told reporters after the Warriors’ win over the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day. “I like that. I like their confrontation. It’s good for us.”

Tensions boiled over between Draymond Green and head coach Steve Kerr during the Warriors’ Monday night game against the Magic, leading to Green walking away from the bench and sitting out the final 20 minutes. Both later admitted that things got heated, with Green choosing to head to the locker room to cool off.

The situation didn’t carry over beyond that night, though, and Green was available for the Christmas Day matchup against the Mavericks. Ahead of that game, Kerr openly owned his part in the incident, calling it far from his best moment, and later shared that the two had apologized to each other and the team.

However, Butler also added that the argument wasn’t a big deal at all.

“You got two fierce competitors that have won it together, and that wanna continually win. We know what it is. And if you’re looking at me, I’m just looking up like, all right, I expect that to happen, that’s okay, we move on from here.”

Besides Butler, Stephen Curry has also spoken about the incident, praising the two for how they acted in the aftermath.

“They’re in a better place,” Curry said. “But I was [at the podium Monday] talking about it, how they’re really professional and how they handled it. And that’s how they handled it, and how we handled it as a team.

“Stuff like that happens. They have the equity of years and years of relationship that has had its moments as professionals as you are, you come back and you approach the next day with a fresh start, and they handled yesterday and practice well. We responded well as a team.”

In situations like these, there is no better ointment than winning games, and the Warriors have won both games since the argument. Butler’s candid confession is perhaps a reflection of the Warriors’ locker room.

“These things, they happen, especially when you get two incredibly competitive people like Draymond and me,” Kerr said. “So, over the 12 years we’ve been together, this has happened occasionally.

“I care so much about Draymond. And the relationship we have is like family. And like family, you go through ups and downs.”

Now, confrontation between core players and their coaches is nothing new in the NBA. Moreover, championship coaches demanding more from their star players and getting in their face is not new either. In the 2016 NBA Finals, despite a great first half in Game 7, Ty Lue demanded more from LeBron James, leaving him clueless and frustrated.

Still and all, not everyone in the NBA world is taking things lightly.

Paul Pierce raises questions over Draymond Green’s leadership

Former NBA champ Paul Pierce hasn’t exactly been forgiving about the situation, openly questioning Draymond Green’s leadership as a longtime voice in the Golden State Warriors locker room. Leaked audio from the exchange only added fuel to the fire, capturing an emotional Green dropping an F-bomb while Steve Kerr told him to “go home.”

“You don’t walk out on your team. You’re a leader, Draymond. No, no, you’re not a leader. You are the leader,” Pierce stressed.

“Through good, through bad, you stay right there. You control it. As a leader, you gotta go, ‘Let me sit through it.’ You can’t lose it. Because everybody looks up to you. Your team follows your s—, everything you do, bro,” the former Celtics star said.

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Pierce further argued that if a younger Green had acted that way, it might have been understandable, citing concerns that the organization might not want to put up with such an attitude when you are in a position of influence.

Well, for now, it remains to be seen how the equation unfolds between Kerr and Green from here on. Yet, with a long season ahead, neither side has much incentive to let this linger any longer than it already has.