Draymond Green’s fourth ejection during the 2023-24 season sparked a huge debate between Gilbert Arenas and Shannon Sharpe. Arenas posited that it wasn’t Green’s fault but the blame lies with the official. The former NBA guard pointed out that the 2017 DPOY wasn’t being “loud” and just wanted to get his point across. He added that the officials overreacted in what was merely a “one-on-one” conversation about a play. He expressed that Green was making a case on behalf of his team. However, Sharpe wasn’t convinced by this logic given Green’s history of getting ejected.
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He touched upon how the 4x All-Star started to test the referee’s patience since the opening whistle. Disagreeing with Arenas, Unc Sharpe highlighted the way Green acted as an “agitator”. Unlike Agent Zero, his co-host sided with refs who he believed were tired of the agitator’s constant yelling. He compared Green’s complaints early in the game to a person calling her partner out right in the morning,
“I just woke up and you yelling and screaming talking about why my phone is goin’ off. Who calling you early on this morning? I don’t know! Cause I was asleep,” quipped Shannon Sharpe.
Throughout the conversation, the 55-year-old criticized the oft-ejected forward’s tone and demeanor. For him, it wasn’t surprising that the refs threw him out considering the disruptions he caused in the initial parts of the game.
Contrarily, his co-host argued why would the 2017 steals leader react that way knowing fully well his importance in the team and his team’s weakening playoff prospects. To his point, Dray is on the cusp of becoming the most ejected player in the history of the league.
Will Draymond Green make an undesirable history?
Like Draymond Green, Rasheed Wallace also used to get on the nerves of the referees. The former Pistons legend was ejected 25 times across 1109 games. Meanwhile, Green has been ejected 19 times in 805 games. Therefore, he is just six behind the famous referee agitator.
If we take out the averages, Wallace was ejected around every 44 games while Green has been ejected every 42 games. Thus, in terms of frequency, the oft-suspended forward has eclipsed Sheed.
Adding the 17-game suspension to his ejections, the forward has let his team down repeatedly. Therefore, it is not a surprise that Stephen Curry who is often calm as a still ocean may also had enough. In a post-game interview, Curry stated,
“All I’ll say is we need him. He knows that. We all know that. So whatever it takes for him to be on the floor and available, that’s what’s gotta happen.”
Therefore, he may have subtly hinted that his decade-plus teammate needs to control his emotions. He does make sense considering the precarious situation the Warriors have been in throughout the season. Now that the season is about to close, the team management may be unable to fathom their prized defender’s repeat offenses.
