In a candid interview with former NBA star Baron Davis, Draymond Green recounts a controversial free‑throw sequence against the Los Angeles Lakers that he describes as a "suplex". He explains how the Lakers players locked arms on the baseline, how he deliberately ran into the illegal hold to draw a foul, and how referee Scott Foster initially missed the call before eventually blowing a whistle for a double‑team foul on Green. Green praises Foster for his willingness to engage in conversation throughout the game, noting that the referee can be spoken to openly unless the dialogue becomes disrespectful. The conversation then shifts to a broader critique of the NBA’s current media landscape: Green and Davis lament the decline in ratings, the prevalence of shallow "hot‑take" commentary, and the lack of compelling narratives, nicknames, and historic rivalries that once energized fans. They argue that the league needs authentic storytelling, cultural nostalgia, and a focus on legacy to reconnect with younger audiences and revive viewership.
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I don't know if you've seen or explained what happened during this play, but could you explain what happened when you pulled down the Lakers?
Well, hey bro, what happened was I was Scott Foster, who's— I got a few referees I love, so I'm gonna say One of my top 2, top 3 favorite referees. I love Scott Foster. And I actually love Scott Foster, like the reason I love Scott Foster, you got all of it in that game of why I love Scott Foster. He don't care who you are.
Yeah.
He's gonna call the call however he sees it.
Yeah.
Don't matter who you are.
Yeah.
Love that about Scott Foster. You could be LeBron James, you can be Quentin Post, he gonna call it the same way and he ain't afraid of you. Like no matter who you are, Scott ain't afraid. So I love Scott Foster for that reason. So in true fashion, my favorite referee is right here on the baseline. On the box out, they hooked their arms in front of me, which you can't do. It's illegal. Like they connect and hold each other arms. How dare you, Scott? I'm like, Scott, they can't do this. Scott like, hey, unlock arms. You guys can't do that. So they unlock arms and then they start to move their arms back together. So I look back at Scott, I'm like, Scott. He like, you can't do that. So you know me.
Oh my God, dude.
I think fast. So I'm like, all right, well if they arms are connected, if you run into they arms, it's actually a foul on them. So I'm like, I just alerted Scott twice. He see that they locking arms. I'm going. So I take a little step back to load my run up, and then I just try to start taking off running into their arm. When I run into their arm, Scott, you seen that their arms was locked, you ain't gonna blow the whistle? So I'm like, oh, they ain't blow the whistle yet. All right, I gotta do more to get this foul call.
You are nuts.
Come here.
Hey.
Come here.
Hey.
Yeah, I blow this whistle one way or another.
Hey, bro, I swear when I was watching that, It was almost like you told the ref, "Hey, look what I'm about to do." Hey, I told him.
I said, "Scott, they can't do this." So check this out. Bruh, it was a suplex. I don't hear a whistle blow yet. So I'm like, "Oh, ain't enough contact yet. Like, let me create more contact." So I create more contact with it. Scott blows the whistle and go, "Double file." No foul on you. Shoot one free throw. I'm like, what, Scott?
Bro, that was—
He like, hell, Draymond, like, I don't know what it should be, but I know you fouled, so whatever. Scott, but you just saw them hook arms. He like, Draymond, it's a foul on you for this one. I said, Scott, they hooked arms. Scott goes to the referee who's now on the baseline. Hey, switch positions with me so he can come down there and talk.
Do you think it was not a foul on you?
No, it was definitely a foul on me for sure.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Yeah. But it was only a foul on me because he missed the first foul where I ran into their arms.
Oh no.
Hell no. So listen, check this out. So Scott comes to the baseline and has a full conversation with me. Incredible conversation. It was such a fun conversation. And he's like, Draymond, but I don't, I don't know which one of the guys I wanted to call a foul on you on. I don't know which. He said if they were shooting free throws, I don't know which one of 'em I get a free throw to. I'm like, and we had a whole conversation. And like I said, that's one of, that's one of the reasons Scott is one of my favorite referees.
Oh yeah.
Because there's this common misconception of like, you can't talk to Scott Foster. And I think that is so far from true. You can have a conversation with Scott Foster the entire game all night. As long as y'all are having a conversation back and forth, you can even raise your voice on him.
Yeah.
He'll raise his voice back. Like, and like I said, and at a certain point throughout the night, if you start to get disrespectful, Scott gonna tell you, "I'm done. I ain't talking to you no more." And then if you talk to him, you gonna get a tech. But Scott's not just a guy that you gonna go talk to right away and get a tech. Like, the man literally switched positions. Like, "Hey, switch with me." So he could come down there and talk some more. Like, and it was such a fun— That's crazy, bro. It was such a fun moment.
It was.
For me. And to have that moment with Scott, like I said, one of my favorite referees, truly a blast.
Man, that was one of the all-time free throw WWF, WWE, that was old school WWF, Dusty Rhodes taking down Boom with the double suplex. Then he looked at the ref and said, what?
Call the first foul, Scott. I ran into their connected arm. Call the first foul. What did I do? Hey Scott. Scott.
You hear this? Scott, you should have called that first foul. If Scott would've called the first foul, —then it would've made it all the more better. I think he missed that call. If he would've made it—
Scott, I'm moving on. You hear this? But you owe me one next time you referee our game.
Hey, man, don't let them boys lock arms like that, Scott.
You owe me one, Scott. Hey, let me swing this rock, man. Why are the NBA ratings down like this? Like, I know it's football season, but talk to me. What you got for me?
Storytelling, man. Storytelling, storylines. I think— You know, as the visibility of the league expand, you need more voices telling more authentic stories and being able to tap into these players. Like when I look at the media around the game is different. It's all like almost like fake news, gossip news.
Yes.
All the bullshit opinions, weird-ass people giving hot takes. Everything is a hot take. And now you kind of phasing out what we did every day in the streets. You know what I mean? It's like, who your top 5, who the top 10, or who the top 25? And like, you can't even really, we don't even have that no more. You know what I mean? We don't even have like, who the top 5 guards in the league, who the top 5 big dudes, right? And so, and then on top of that, with no stories, getting no nicknames, getting no superheroes with no superpowers. And so now the kids is like, You know what I mean? It's like, I'm getting Steph, but where's the Steph? Like the Steph LeBron story on Christmas Day gotta be a Christmas dream. You know what I mean?
Mm-hmm.
And you gotta have just more of the culture. I think you got so much media, but like you giving, once again, getting the microphone to the people who don't really know the game or the history of the game. And so where there's no nostalgia, there's nowhere for you to kind of like dive in the game for you to get to know these new dudes and they dope, right? I've been saying that like this next, this young generation, if we embrace them with they skill and learn who they are and learn they names, even though they young coming in the league, like it would help even for them to know they past. You know what I'm saying?
Mm-hmm.
And so like the questions may be a little different. The nostalgia may be a little different, Then you know why, you know, Golden State and the Lakers got beef because it's history there. You know what I mean? You know why the Detroit Pistons and Chicago got beef in this history there. So whether you the best team in the league or the worst team in the league, you playing for legacy and to keep that streak alive. You feel what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Or territory. And so the league just got away from like, man, like, What the hell are we watching the games for if they don't mean nothing?
