The NBA has responded to an incident involving Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green and a fan who taunted him with chants of “Angel Reese.”
The incident happened just before halftime on Sunday when a New Orleans Pelicans fan, who was sitting in an expensive seat at courtside, taunted Draymond by calling him “Angel Reese.”
Draymond walked over to the fan at courtside and confronted him.
After the game, the fan named Sam Green (no relation to Draymond) told The Associated Press that he mocked the Warriors star and called him “Angel Reese” because he missed shots while grabbing seven rebounds.
Draymond Green confronted a fan who called him “Angel Reese” after Draymond missed several shots and got his own rebounds. Win for the fan. This is 100% fair game. Players have gotten so soft, it’s embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/JMCHeRrLda
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 17, 2025
On Monday, the NBA warned Draymond about confronting fans who call him a woman.
The NBA promotes inclusivity and celebrates diversity among players, staff and fans, free from stereotypes and discrimination.
Draymond was not fined for his actions, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.
Speaking on his podcast on Monday night, Draymond explained why the fan’s “Angel Reese” chants upset him so much.
The 6’6″, four-time NBA champion said he found the chants funny at first because he missed multiple putbacks and grabbed 7 rebounds off his misses – just like Angel Reese has done in the WNBA for 2 seasons.
The Chicago Sky forward has been taunted for padding her rebound stats with multiple putbacks off her misses.
But she profited from the taunts by trademarking the term “Mebounds.”
Draymond said he was annoyed by the fan’s “underlying message and the tone.” He added that he didn’t like the fan using Angel’s name as a negative term.
“By the way, to use Angel Reese’s name as a negative connotation, I really don’t like that for a young queen because she’s done what she’s done to become who she is, and so I really don’t like that in itself. But there also gets to a point where, hey, as a man with four children, soon to be five, once you start to add the different fillers onto your Angel Reese [chants] at a certain point, now you’re disrespecting me as a man… You’re not just gonna keep calling me a woman’s name. I am Draymond Green.”
He continued:
“You get in these situations where fans, they like to get a bit disrespectful, and like I said, no disrespect to Angel Reese, but you’re not going to continue to just call me a woman. That’s not gonna work. Enjoy the game, watch the game, cheer your team on. To continue to yell to me that I’m a woman, that just ain’t gonna work.”
