Draymond Green Fires Back at Knicks Frustration Over Postgame Hug with Mike Brown
Draymond Green isn’t backing down-not from a flagrant foul, not from criticism, and definitely not from a hug.
After the Warriors’ recent win over the Knicks, Green shared a warm postgame embrace with Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown, a former Warriors assistant and longtime friend. But that moment of camaraderie apparently didn’t sit well with folks inside the Knicks organization, according to a recent report.
The issue? The hug came on the heels of a controversial fourth-quarter flagrant foul where Green tripped Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns. That sequence, followed by the friendly exchange with Brown, reportedly rubbed some in New York the wrong way.
Green addressed the backlash head-on during the latest episode of The Draymond Green Show, and in typical Draymond fashion, he didn’t mince words.
“So, this is soft because-was it really a flagrant foul?” Green said. “Like, I didn’t take the guy out.”
From Green’s perspective, the foul was more about his reputation than the actual contact. He argued it was a standard physical play-nothing out of the ordinary in a league where hard fouls are part of the game.
“Number one, this is basketball. You’re going to get fouled,” Green said.
“Number two, it wasn’t a hard foul. And if it was a hard foul, Karl-Anthony Towns should have got up and defended himself.
He didn’t because it wasn’t a hard foul.”
Green also made it clear that his relationship with Mike Brown is bigger than any single game or postgame optics. The two have been through battles together, winning championships during their shared time in Golden State. That bond, Green emphasized, is built on trust and time-not convenience.
“Mike Brown and I won multiple championships together, and we collaborated a lot,” Green said. “That relationship is what it is.
It ain’t changing because it’s built. That’s two human beings that took time to build that relationship.”
The Knicks, meanwhile, have been sliding. After a promising start to the season, they’ve stumbled to a 3-8 record in January. At the time of Green’s podcast, they were 2-8 during the month-a stretch that’s raised more questions than answers.
Green didn’t shy away from addressing that slump either.
“But if these guys are going to try to point to that and say, ‘Man, that’s why we were 2-and-8 in January...’ what about the other losses?” Green said.
“Was that about a hug, too? Or are people just trying to grab on to something easy and not face the real issues?”
It’s a fair question. A postgame hug might be an easy scapegoat, but it’s not the reason a team loses eight of ten. Green believes the Knicks’ frustrations say more about their internal struggles than anything he did on the court-or after the buzzer.
“So, for this report to come out, if this is the case, that says more about them than anything,” Green continued. “And that would say why they’re [3-8] in January.
So there’s that. If that’s your issue, you got a much bigger issue.”
Green also noted that he has friends on the Knicks roster, and none of them seemed bothered in the moment. To him, the narrative feels like an overreaction-fueled, perhaps, by his own polarizing reputation.
“But it could be because Draymond’s involved, and you know everybody love to hate-which I love,” he added with a smirk.
Love him or hate him, Draymond Green has never been one to tiptoe around controversy. He’s going to play hard, speak his mind, and, yes, hug his friends-even if it ruffles a few feathers in the process.