Draymond Green fined for criticizing officials

The league handed out a $25,000 fine for Draymond Green’s words after Saturday’s game.

Draymond Green picked up what turned out to be a pretty costly technical foul during the Golden State Warriors’ 121-105 shellacking of the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. First, it was Green’s 11th T of the season, giving him just five more until he gets suspended.

And second, it cost him $25,000, as he complained about it to the media following the victory.

After the game, Green spoke to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, and said of player-referee relations that, “It’s bad. It’s horrible. It’s really bad. I don’t know why it is. But I think it’s ridiculous. It’s ruining the game.”

And that, apparently, was worth $25,000 in the eye of the league.

Stephen Curry quickly came to the defense of his teammate, saying that Green doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt that other players do. Curry was pretty eloquent and telling, saying, “There are certain situations where he has a certain mannerism about him, a certain disposition, that is different from other people. I’ve been on the court when just looking around like, ‘Why did he get a tech?’ He didn’t say anything, he didn’t do anything demonstrative. I’ve seen way worse; had a blind eye turned to it.

”And Draymond would admit there’s been situations on the other side where he’s gone overboard and they’ve handled it accordingly. It’s a give and take, but there have been more than enough instances where he’s tried to compose himself and tried to have that communication and he’s not given the benefit of the doubt.”

Whether Green deserved the technical and the ensuing fine is up for debate. But it does seem like this season has seen increased tension between the players and the referees. Hopefully something can be done to limit that.