Draymond Green says White referee’s gesture toward him felt disrespectful 'as a Black man in America'
Draymond Green received his 10th technical foul of the season and the 209th of his career, including the playoffs. But this one in particular rubbed him the wrong way.
The Golden State Warriors forward was T'd up on Friday night against the Detroit Pistons after an exchange with official J.T. Orr on his own bobblehead night.
Green was upset that Orr, who is White, put his hand in his face.
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"I will tell you, though. I find it very ironic that I got a technical foul for telling a Caucasian referee not to put his hand in my face. As a Black man in America, don't put your hand in my face," Green said.
"I said, 'Hey, don't put your hand in my face.' And I got a tech. So I thought that was the most interesting thing of the night, next to my bobblehead."
Green then criticized the official and said respect is a two-way street.
"He said, ‘Draymond, this is your chance to stop talking to me. (I responded) ’Bro, don't put your hand in my face.' Oh, tech. Oh! OK. Everybody wants to talk about holding a line of respect. That line needs to be held both ways. So if the line won’t be held both ways, then the line won’t be held from my way either, because we’re all men and we all can make decisions and choices. So let that be the last time that that happens," he said.
Earlier this month, Green had his 24th ejection. He ranks second in career ejections among NBA players all time, just five behind Rasheed Wallace, who holds the record with 29.
Green also leads all active NBA players in technical fouls and passed Anthony Mason for seventh place on the all-time leaderboard earlier this month. He needs two more to pass Dwight Howard and 60 more after that to pass Dennis Rodman and enter the top five.
Fox News' Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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