“He’s Been a Liability”: ESPN Analyst Rips Draymond Green After 31st Career Ejection

Draymond Green has been down this road with Kendrick Perkins before. Years ago, after an ejection against Memphis that most analysts considered undeserved because of a questionable flagrant call, Perkins still refused to let Green off the hook, arguing on ESPN that a veteran with his basketball IQ knows exactly what he’s doing when he crosses the line.

That history is worth remembering now, because Perkins' latest criticism isn't about one isolated incident anymore. It's about Green's entire season.

Green picked up his first ejection of the 2026-27 campaign Monday night against Phoenix, his 31st career disqualification, after a chaotic sequence that started when he threw down Suns center Khaman Maluach following a collision under the basket. Dillon Brooks sprinted in to confront Green over the hard foul, the two exchanged shoves and jersey grabs, and officials assessed a double technical that triggered Green’s automatic ejection.

He finished with just four points, four rebounds and two assists before his exit, in a game Golden State still won 116-113.

That ejection became the centerpiece of Perkins’ argument, but his larger point went well beyond one scuffle. “When’s the last time we discuss Draymond and brought up his basketball and not fighting?” Perkins said. “When you look at the start of this season, he’s been nonexistent. He’s done absolutely nothing for the Warriors! He’s been a liability more than an asset!"

Green’s production through the six games he has played backs up at least part of the complaint. He entered Monday averaging just 3.0 points per game, a modest figure for a player who’s long been Golden State’s defensive anchor and emotional engine.

He now has three technical fouls in six games, tied for the most in the league, still well short of the 16 that would trigger an automatic suspension, but already drawing renewed calls from fans for the league to treat him as a repeat offender.

Not everyone inside the Warriors organization shares Perkins' read. Steve Kerr brushed off the incident as simply "the greatest NBA basketball players on earth competing," and Stephen Curry credited Green's ejection with sparking a response, saying "he lit a fire in all of us" as Golden State closed the game on a 13-point run after he left.

That disconnect, with Perkins pointing to declining production and repeated ejections as a real problem while Green’s own coach and teammate treat it as fuel, is exactly the tension now surrounding a player who’s spent over a decade being both indispensable and unpredictable for the same franchise.