On March 27, Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green was ejected for the fourth time this season, less than four minutes into the game.

Green has been punished twice this season, one indefinitely, for on-court conduct; at last season’s training camp, when the Warriors were defending champions, he hit then-teammate Jordan Poole in the face.


Stephen Curry appeared distraught following his most recent dismissal, covering his face in his jersey as his eyes welled up.
So Green invited longtime teammate Klay Thompson on his podcast and urged him to be “brutally honest” about how he feels when he is expelled or suspended.

Thompson waited a few seconds to respond, but Green received what he desired, and Thompson’s response “took a lot out of” him.


“I always know you have good intentions. You are a legendary basketball player who has won at all levels. “It’s as if a part of us is missing when you’re not present.” Thompson stated. “Without you, we would never be able to be ourselves and have the freedom we have on the court. So, when you’re not out there, it’s like a massive flaw in the armor.”

“And I know the opposing team is relieved you’re not out there. I know it for a fact. They relax for a moment, letting their hair down and pumping their chest up a little more. The team’s enforcer and heartbeat is missing.

“At the end of the day, we only need you. That dissatisfaction, that sense of shaking your head, comes from thinking, ‘Dang, we can’t do this without you.’ We love you and really need you. And these young players need you as well, because Steph and I are leaders, but we don’t speak the game or motivate these young men the way you do.”


“Even when Kenny calls on you in the film, there will always be a void if you are not present. We aren’t the Warriors without Money Green; that’s a fact. You can ask anyone in the Bay or around the world who has followed this team. We wouldn’t be the Dubs without you. That’s where the ‘Dang, not again,’ comes from. It’s simply that, dude, it’s difficult to do without you, bro.”
Green stated that when he finds himself in on-court problems, he feels the most for Curry and Thompson, and that he does “not take that brotherhood for granted at all.”

Curry’s leadership appears to have been put into doubt as a result of Green’s destructive actions on the floor.