"You're disrespecting me as a man" - Draymond Green expands on why fan's "Angel Reese" taunts ticked him off
Draymond Green has never shied away from confrontation, but his latest explanation for a courtside dust-up shows there was more at stake than simple trash talk.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Green expanded on why a fan’s “Angel Reese” taunts during a Warriors game set him off, leading to a tense verbal exchange and the fan’s eventual removal. According to Green, it wasn’t the reference to the Chicago Sky rookie that bothered him—it was what he felt the comparison implied about his character and manhood.
“You’re disrespecting me as a man,” Green said, clarifying that the fan repeatedly yelled “Angel Reese!” at him after a foul, seemingly linking Green’s reputation for on-court altercations to Reese’s highly publicized dust-ups in college and early in her WNBA career. “You’re trying to belittle me, like I’m some kind of joke, and you’re doing it in a way you think is cute because it’s tied to a woman player.”
Green stressed that he has “no issue” with Reese and actually respects what she represents for the women’s game. His frustration, he said, came from the fan using her name as a punchline to mock him, turning a Black woman athlete into a prop for an insult.
“That’s corny,” Green continued. “Say I’m dirty, say I foul too much, whatever. But don’t drag her into it like she’s a clown. You’re disrespecting both of us.”
The incident highlights a growing intersection between NBA culture and the surging popularity of women’s basketball, where names like Reese and Caitlin Clark now carry real weight in mainstream discourse—and, increasingly, in fan trash talk. Green argued that while players accept a level of heckling as part of the job, lines are crossed when insults lean on gendered undertones or use women athletes as shorthand for ridicule.
“You can talk basketball all day,” Green said. “But when you start trying to question my manhood, and you do it by trying to play a woman as the joke, that’s where I’m done with it.”
On a recent episode of his podcast, Green expanded on why a fan’s “Angel Reese” taunts during a Warriors game set him off, leading to a tense verbal exchange and the fan’s eventual removal. According to Green, it wasn’t the reference to the Chicago Sky rookie that bothered him—it was what he felt the comparison implied about his character and manhood.
“You’re disrespecting me as a man,” Green said, clarifying that the fan repeatedly yelled “Angel Reese!” at him after a foul, seemingly linking Green’s reputation for on-court altercations to Reese’s highly publicized dust-ups in college and early in her WNBA career. “You’re trying to belittle me, like I’m some kind of joke, and you’re doing it in a way you think is cute because it’s tied to a woman player.”
Green stressed that he has “no issue” with Reese and actually respects what she represents for the women’s game. His frustration, he said, came from the fan using her name as a punchline to mock him, turning a Black woman athlete into a prop for an insult.
“That’s corny,” Green continued. “Say I’m dirty, say I foul too much, whatever. But don’t drag her into it like she’s a clown. You’re disrespecting both of us.”
The incident highlights a growing intersection between NBA culture and the surging popularity of women’s basketball, where names like Reese and Caitlin Clark now carry real weight in mainstream discourse—and, increasingly, in fan trash talk. Green argued that while players accept a level of heckling as part of the job, lines are crossed when insults lean on gendered undertones or use women athletes as shorthand for ridicule.
“You can talk basketball all day,” Green said. “But when you start trying to question my manhood, and you do it by trying to play a woman as the joke, that’s where I’m done with it.”
