In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond recounts the opening‑night technical foul he received against the Portland Trail Blazers. He describes the play that led to the call, his banter with referee Tyler Ford, and his frustration that the foul was issued despite his attempts to communicate with the official. Draymond criticizes ESPN for editing his comments to create a sensational narrative and laments how the media portrays his on‑court confrontations. He boasts about knowing every NBA referee by name, shares a long‑standing roast relationship with veteran official Tony Brothers, and recounts past incidents, including a Subway commercial altercation. Draymond reflects on his career total of 16 technical fouls (most in the 2003‑04 season) and declares his intention to keep the season total under ten, possibly even eight, by making a conscious effort to stay calm. He also mentions interactions with coach Steve Kerr and former coach Rick Carlisle, noting that past tensions have been resolved. Mid‑episode, a paid political advertisement for Kamala Harris is aired, highlighting her policies on generational wealth and home‑ownership assistance. The conversation ends with Draymond affirming his commitment to fewer technical fouls and addressing referees directly, urging them to call him by name.
Chapters
Opening night, you was getting ready for your first game, right?
Yes, sir.
Dub Nation got the win, right? I traded for you, right, on my fantasy team.
Yes, sir. Okay, respect.
You had a good game. "Team played great, right? But you cost me like 5 points on my fantasy because of your technical foul." Man, that tech was some bullshit, bro.
It's crazy. Also, ESPN.
Well, Draymond Green is activated.
ESPN irks me 'cause you know they wanna build up this narrative, which is great, right?
Right.
So on their cutout, you know, their video cut up, they cut it up with me talking back and forth with Tyler Ford and they cut it up like I got to tech with Tyler Ford. I didn't even get a tech by Tyler Ford. Let me tell you how I got a tech. I was bantering back and forth with Tyler Ford and Tyler Ford banter, like Tyler Ford would banter back and forth with me, which—
Yeah.
You know, you know the referees that you can banter back and forth with and you know. Yeah, you can talk to them. And Tyler will banter back and forth with me all night. I got nothing but love and respect for Tyler. Trey Maddox comes and stand next to me at the free throw line. I'm lined up for the free throw. He comes and stand next to me and he like, Draymond, what's up, man? What's like, tell me what's wrong. And I'm like, Trey, that's not a foul, man. I got the same right to that ball that he got to the ball. And I went for the ball. I also didn't make any contact with him. It's not a foul. And then he's like, but Draymond, you dove. I said, yeah, but I can dive for the ball. Like—
For sure.
If I like, I can dive too. Like the ball's on the floor. And so I'm just like, that's not a foul. That's crazy, man. That is fucking bullshit. And I'm just, I'm walking across the lane, like walking to my, not even looking at him, just walking to my spot.
Moseying on.
Yeah, moseying on. And he give me a tech and I'm like, bro, how you gonna give me a tech and you come over there talking to me, asking me to talk to you?
He triggering you.
And then he's like—
He gaslighting you.
He's like, you can't cuss in the middle of the lane. Bro, I'm a grown man. What do you mean I can't cuss? Like, I'm a grown man. I'm not cussing you out. I can cuss when I talk.
That's triggering, bro.
Cat or my mother, like, she curse when I talk. I'm not cursing you out. And so I apologize for the technical BD, man. That was, that was crazy. However, ESPN wanna chop it up and act like, oh, he got a tech for going crazy over there in that situation. Stop it. And then, you know, everybody's making a thing about Steve Kerr, right? Like they were like, oh, Steve Kerr called a timeout. What was Steve Kerr saying? And he said, Draymond, all right, I know, I know. I said, coach, that's bullshit, man. He come and talk to me and give me a tech and I didn't foul him. He's like, I know, I know it was bullshit, but we need you. I watched it, I know it was bullshit, but we need you. I'm like, no, I'm here, I'm fine. It's cool.
I'm good.
Like, oh, all right. He started drawing up the play. I'm cool. He start trying to play, we cool.
Nah.
Moving on.
Come on ESPN, quit with that. They trying it. You know what's the most impressive thing about this whole story? Is you know every ref by their first and last name.
Oh, absolutely. Every single one of them. You better believe it.
Hey dog, I thought I was good with the refs. Like, you are on a whole nother level.
Bro, every single one of them.
You know their first. I used to call refs, you big head, dinosaur head. Oh bro, I used to be cool with 'em and then they pissed me off. I start bagging on 'em the whole game.
Yeah, that's me.
I be super cool with 'em, bro.
I be super cool with 'em. By the way, I'm gonna tell you.
Like, how you doing, Draymond? Had a great summer.
I'm gonna tell you who I always roast. He roasts me back. He crushed me when I had the Subway commercial. Tony Brothers.
Oh, Tony Brothers stay with some jokes.
Oh man, I'll be roasting Tony and his thick-ass unibrow, thick-ass eyebrows. I'll be roasting Tony, but he be, Tony, Tony, Tony will come in.
Tony Brothers got it.
When Tony come in, he coming in hot. He going straight at you.
He is.
The presidential elections are coming up quickly. So I'm here to let you know that Kamala Harris believes in building wealth. Black generational wealth. Her policies will benefit our communities so we can pass something along to our kids. That's why Kamala Harris has a plan to give a $50,000 tax deduction for startup small businesses so we cannot just get by but get ahead. Bringing down the cost of renting or buying a home is such an important step towards bridging the racial wealth gap. That's why she's eager to assist even more families in realizing their dreams of home ownership by offering $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. Visit kamalaharris.com/issues to learn more about her vision for our future. Paid for by Harris for President. Every time, man, I had the Subway commercial. I had the Subway commercial. He walked past our bitch. And if you remember the Subway commercial, it was something along the lines of like, It was my sub and JT was talking about his sub. I was talking about my sub. JT talking about his, I talked about mine. It was like, my sub is better than yours. Tony came past our bench. He said, y'all got this soft ass motherfucker over here. I said, better than your sub. I rock with Tony Brothers, man. Nah, but I don't, I actually don't, I actually got a really good relationship with most of the referees. But you know me, when I'm in the heat of the battle, I ain't sparing nobody. Just like when people be like, yo, that's your friend. Like y'all friends off the court, you can't play hard. Like bro, when I'm in the heat of the battle, like these referees, man, we just finished talking about my kids, they kids, how life for them, how life for me. We just talked about, but once we in the line of battle, He's sparing nobody. Nobody. So that's just what it is.
Everybody.
Number one, also, before I ask you this question, why is my tech a highlight, bro? The first highlight was my tech. Like, am I that big of a deal? That's pretty amazing for a guy who can't score in basketball. Like, am I that big of a deal? I am the leadoff.
You are.
You are. I pat myself on the back sometimes. But speaking of texts.
You know, some—
Go ahead.
You know, some people probably got like an over-under on when you gonna get your first text of the season.
I wonder, was that a Vegas line?
That's incredible, though.
I wonder if it was a Vegas line.
That was like, Draymond is here, he got the text.
It's go time, we here.
But I blame the ref for that. You should get your money back. 'Cause he, it sound like he was gaslighting you.
He was for sure, but it's cool. I'll let him do it. I'm here anyway.
Got you, dude.
All right, one take, boom, we here, let's go. All right, now moving on. Oh, no, no, no. During the 2003-2004 season, you played with the Hornets. You recorded the highest number of technical fouls in your career, total of 16.
What?
What was going on with you that year? You needed, did you get the help you needed?
Nah, bro, I was out there. You know, I'll say anything, right? And so similar to you, I'll start off like, say Tony Brothers, right? He was like, "Oh man, I just bought me a Lexus this summer, same the one you had." You know what I mean? On Cribs game start, okay, cool. All right, Tony, hey bro, homeboy hacking me, BD, chill. Tony, you muppet head motherfucker. "Yo, call a foul, you burnt toast head." Hey bro, that was like my whole MO. So when I would get in, so I get into it with the refs, I always start off cool. First quarter, second quarter, oh bro, I'm going to spaz out. I'm gonna say something, you know what I mean? I'm gonna say something. And then back in 2003, 2004, You know, you got Jamal McGloer, Robert Tractor Taylor, Stacy Augmon, George Lynch. Like, we was really like, you know, we all pride ourselves on defense.
Yes, sir.
And so I think a couple of those is like, you know, you pressuring the dude, you steal the ball, ref call a foul, but the dude trying to push you off and you like, man, get outta here. You know what I mean?
Yes, sir.
So it's like the foul and the push. But I ain't never had no like real altercations with nobody on the court outside the refs. I talked shit to the refs. Me and Rick Carlisle got into it one time.
Who was he coaching at the time?
He was coaching Dallas. 'Cause I think I like did something to JJ Barea. He flopped. And so I came back down and I popped him one, you know what I mean, for flopping. And Rick Carlisle was talking shit and I was like, man, Rick, "Come on, man, like I give you my number. We can go to lunch. I'll take you to lunch, bro. All the tough shit, we can go have a conversation at lunch." And after that, me and Rick Carlisle been cool. Shout out to Rick Carlisle. He tough though, he was talking shit.
Oh, y'all patched it up?
I folded him, man.
Rick was about to whoop your ass.
I folded him.
Rick was about to give you them old man stretch.
Hey, listen, he gonna get folded, you hear me? You hear me? He gonna get folded.
Hey, Rick likes 6'8".
And every time I see him, I'm gonna fold him up.
Rick was gonna two-piece you so crazy.
No way, bro. Hey, listen, he gonna have to do it every time he see me too.
Yeah, you do gotta whoop me every time you see me, for sure.
'Cause I'm gonna fold him up if he wanna. I don't fight no more though. I don't even have that gene in my body, man.
That gene is gone. Fuck that. I ain't fight nobody.
I just figure like, you know, words can hurt people.
I ain't fight nobody. So listen, to those out there.
I ain't fight nobody, bro.
To those out there in NBA land, if I talk shit to you this year, which I will, just know I'm not fighting you.
We ain't trying to—
I might even say like, yo, I'll fight you. Like, I'm not fighting you. Like, I ain't got no fights. I don't wanna fight. I don't even wanna act like I'm gonna fight. I'm done.
Nah, man.
Oh, I'm done. This is over. I had enough.
You got words. Hey, bro, you got words.
I got bars too.
You got some ill— Hey, bro, you got some ill words for him. You got some ill words.
I'mma use it on him, man. Adam, tell him. Adam, I've had enough. I tell him, Adam, I'm done. Ain't no fight for me. This is, you can have it.
No, you heard, and I hope all the refs is hearing this too. 'Cause Draymond know all y'all by y'all name. So address this man as Draymond Green, right? No triggers, no gaslighting.
Thank you.
We gonna have less than 16 technical fouls this year.
I'm gonna have less than 10 technical fouls this year. I might even make a decision and keep it even less than 8. But I gotta make a conscious decision. I don't really know if I wanna keep it at 8.
