Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has gotten into a fair few altercations over the course of his career, and he got into one with his head coach, Steve Kerr, recently. Green and Kerr were seen yelling at each other during a timeout in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 120-97 win over the Orlando Magic on Dec. 22, 2025.
Kerr wasn’t interested in revealing what had led to the altercation after the game, but he has now finally explained what happened on the Tom Tolbert Show.
“First of all, it was a misunderstanding,” Kerr said. “… Draymond was talking to the refs, and I had called a timeout because I thought we lost our focus. And I wasn’t mad at him, but he was talking to the ref for a long time, and then I see five of our players over there trying to bring him back.
“And he had been ejected the night before,” Kerr continued. “And so I started yelling his name, ‘Draymond, Draymond!’ Basically just asking him to get to the huddle. He thought I was yelling at him because of a turnover he had just made, and so he says something snarky, I say something back snarky, and next thing you know, we’re yelling at each other, we’re at each other’s throats, and then it all comes to bear.
“But I should have been calmer in that time,” Kerr added. “I know Draymond so well, and there is always a buildup to these things. And he’s such an emotional player and passionate player. And he’d been frustrated for a couple of days, and I recognized that, but I needed to recognize it and do something about it in the huddle. I needed to be the calming force. So we went back and forth, and I regret it. Not being the calming one in that conversation.”
As Kerr mentioned, Green had indeed committed a turnover and was arguing with an official before he called the timeout. The four-time All-Star had just gotten himself ejected in the game against the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 20, and his head coach didn’t want a repeat here.
Green, though, appears to have felt that Kerr was ripping him for the turnover and went off. The 35-year-old headed to the locker room after the altercation and didn’t come out for the rest of the quarter. Green returned to the bench before the start of the fourth quarter, but did not re-enter the game.
Kerr and Green kept it short when asked about their altercation postgame, with neither revealing the real reason for it. The former did mention, though, that he had not sent the latter to the locker room. Green decided to leave himself, and Kerr then chose not to put him back in the game when he returned. Some on the outside were worried if the situation would linger, but it hasn’t.
“We’re both irrationally competitive,” Kerr stated. “… I can lose my mind, Draymond can lose his, and every once in a while, we lose it with each other. It’s just part of it. But as I said the next day, I would never, ever want to go into a basketball game, a big basketball game, without Draymond Green. He’s just an amazing big-game player and champion. So we’re gonna ride this thing out together, and we’re gonna be fine.”
Despite all of Green’s antics over the years, Kerr wants him on his team. He, of course, has been a big reason why the Warriors have won four championships since 2015. They are willing to take the bad with the good when it comes to Green, who is averaging 8.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game in 2025-26.
The Warriors followed up that victory against the Magic by winning three of their next four games. They are now 18-16 on the season and will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder next at Chase Center on Friday at 10 PM ET.
