Many have criticized Draymond Green after his latest incident — an argument with Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr — that led him to walk to the locker room and remain off the floor for the remainder of the game. But former NBA player Chandler Parsons is zagging while everyone else is zigging.

Parsons said on FanDuel TV's ‘Run It Back' that Green was actually being mature by leaving the bench early in the third quarter and later returning.

“I think if this was anybody else other than Draymond Green, this is probably national news, right? It's still picking up and still getting a lot of attention, but this is just something that has happened often,” Parsons said. “This is two guys that respect each other, that have won at the highest level with each other. And it's two passionate guys that, again, like Lou [Williams] just said, I don't think this is an issue. This is just in the heat of the moment, which happens all the time. And this never would have even surfaced if the fan wasn't videoing. But I don't think there's anything here, obviously, with the history of Draymond Green — and we don't want anything to be that detrimental to the team — but I think it was a sign of maturity that he actually just stormed off and left, and then he came back. And Kerr was like, ‘Cool, you're back. You're still not going back in the game.'

“And I guarantee you they've already hashed it out, had a conversation, and will move forward. And in a season like this, when they just got back to .500, there's probably some frustration. There's probably some tough times. But this really, to me, isn't anything. This is just a guy that's deserved the right to kind of speak his mind. And this is a coach that's also always had his back and respected and appreciated this type of passion and fire. So you can't kind of mix up on it now and have an issue with it. I mean, look, Draymond did say, ‘I didn't think it was going to get better.' I'm a big proponent of just leave the situation and let things cool off, so I kind of understand why he's doing that.”

 

Article Continues Below

After the argument, which happened on the bench early in the third quarter during a timeout, Kerr did not sub Green back into the game, and the Warriors pulled away from the Orlando Magic, winning 120-97 after having a one-point lead at halftime. Green finished the game with 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists in 18 minutes. Kerr said little of the spat other than that he and Green “had it out a little bit” before Green “made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off.” Kerr did confirm, though, that he did not put Green back into the game because of his departure from the bench area.

“He wasn't going back in. No. He left. He went back to the locker room. We moved forward, and the guys played great,” Kerr said in his postgame press conference.

Green, one of the most polarizing players in the NBA, has had his fair share of incidents, to which an argument with Kerr pales in comparison. Specifically, Green has previously been suspended or otherwise punished for striking then-teammate Jordan Poole in practice, hitting then-Phoenix Suns big man Jusuf Nurkic, choking Minnesota Timberwolves center and longtime rival Rudy Gobert, stomping on the Sacramento Kings' Domantas Sabonis, and, possibly most notably, kicking LeBron James in the groin during the 2016 NBA Finals.

The Warriors (15-15) remain at home for their game vs. old teammate Klay Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day.