“Can’t Go On Like That”: Draymond Green Defends Himself After Ejection vs. Suns

Back on Dec. 20, 2025, Draymond Green was thrown out of a Warriors-Suns game barely ten minutes in, two days after Dillon Brooks hit Stephen Curry with a flagrant foul in Phoenix. Almost a year later, the same matchup produced the same result.

Green has now explained why he believes the latest ejection, on Monday night, was a message that had to be sent.

"You must stand on that type of time as a big man," Green said on his show. "If you don't, your paint get ran through, no rim protection cause there's no respect after that, that's gotta happen... so the next time you gonna try something you gotta think about it."

He then pointed to what he saw as the real story. "The plot twist is like Dillon Brooks running up, spewing the things out that he was spewing out, Miles Bridges was trying to de-escalate... you were trying to be the villain and that type of energy will not ever be respected," Green added.

The flashpoint came two minutes into the third quarter of Golden State's 116-113 win. Green was whistled for a hard foul on Suns center Khaman Maluach, then picked him up and threw him to the floor after the whistle.

Officials called a technical for the throwdown. Brooks sprinted in from the top of the key, the two grabbed each other's jerseys, and Green put a hand on Brooks' neck. After a review, both received technicals, and because it was Green's second of the night, he was ejected.

It was his first ejection of the season, in the Warriors' eighth game, and the 31st of his career. Golden State still held on for its fifth straight win behind 34 points from Curry.

"I was just trying to de-escalate it," Brooks said afterward. "He was just tweaking all game." That is the opposite of how Green described the exchange, and it is the main reason the debate has continued.

The game stayed tense after Green left. Late in the fourth quarter, Charles Bassey tangled with Jalen Green on a rebound and Miles Bridges ran in and shoved Bassey. Officials gave Bridges a technical for escalating the situation, which is not quite the de-escalation role Draymond described. Bassey was blunt about it, calling the Suns' approach "fake toughness."

Green has become Golden State's starting center, a position where reputation matters as much as technique. In his view, a big man who lets a physical play go unanswered invites opponents to attack the paint all night.

The four-time NBA champion argued that the throwdown was a deterrent. A way of telling Phoenix's bigs that driving at him would carry a cost.

It also helps explain why Green and Brooks keep colliding. Brooks said in a 2023 ESPN feature, "I don't like Draymond at all." Green later called him an "idiot" and a "sucker" in separate comments. Both led the league in technicals recently, with Brooks first and Green third last season. The two have a long history, so Monday looked less like a surprise and more like another chapter.

For Green, the point is that physical lines must be defended for a team to be taken seriously. For critics, the question is whether throwing a young center to the floor is the right way to defend them.