Steve Kerr clears the air on his heated exchange with Draymond Green: "It was a misunderstanding"
As the saying goes, "winning cures all." A week ago, the Golden State Warriors were the talk of the town, albeit for the wrong reasons. This was because of the heated argument that power forward Draymond Green had with head coach Steve Kerr , which culminated in the former leaving the bench and heading to the locker room to avoid saying or doing anything he would regret.
These days, that spat is old news. With the Warriors winning five of their last six games, including a 132-125 New Year's Eve victory over the Charlotte Hornets , things are looking up in the Bay Area. However, that doesn't mean people have completely forgotten about what transpired between Green and Kerr.
In an interesting turn of events, Kerr himself revealed what actually transpired on the bench during that game against the Orlando Magic , stating it was all a huge misunderstanding.
Kerr wasn't mad at Green because of the turnover he committed
Contrary to popular opinion, Green had relative control of himself and his game in that match against the Orlando Magic. While the Warriors have had trouble protecting leads and ball possessions, Green was hardly to blame in that bout, as he had only one turnover.
Unfortunately, the one he had led to a take-foul committed by teammate Quinten Post and a jumper by Aaron Black that gave the Magic a 71-66 lead. Kerr clarified that he wasn't mad at Green for that turnover; the only reason he was yelling at him was that he wanted him to get into the huddle.
"First of all, it was a misunderstanding. Draymond was talking to the refs and I had called a timeout because I thought we lost our focus. I wasn't mad at him, but he was talking to the ref for a long time. Then I see five of our players over there trying to bring him back and he had been ejected the night before," Kerr narrated on the "Tom Tolbert Show."
"So I started yelling his name, 'Draymond! Draymond!' basically just asking him to get to the huddle. He thought I was yelling at him because of a turnover he had just made," Steve continued. "And so he says something snarky, I say something snarky back, and the next thing you know, we're yelling at each other. We're at each other's throats and then it all comes to bear."
While the Warriors came away with a 120-97 win in that game, the talk centered on the intense exchange of words between Kerr and Green. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the two hashed things out in the days that followed.
Steve admits he should have been calmer
Kerr has coached Green for 12 seasons, which means they have gone through the ups and downs of NBA life together. From the highs of experiencing championship glory to the ignominy of being the worst team in the league, the two have stood by one another through thick and thin.
However, it doesn't mean they haven't gone at one another. Kerr, though, acknowledged that as the coach, he should have been the more composed one in that situation.
"I should have been calmer in that moment. I know Draymond so well, and there's always a buildup to these things. He's such an emotional and passionate player, and he had been frustrated for a couple of days," Kerr remarked. "I recognized that, but I needed to recognize it and do something about it in the huddle. I needed to be the calming force. We went back and forth and I regretted not being the calming one in that conversation."
Amidst the chaos of that incident, Kerr shared a moment in which he couldn't help but chuckle. After Green made his way to the locker room to blow off steam, his All-Star teammate Jimmy Butler soon followed, trying to calm him down and offer some advice.
Unfortunately, Kerr planned to put Butler back in the game, but he was nowhere to be found.
"The best part was a few minutes later, I tried to put Jimmy in, and he was in the locker room, too," Kerr recalled. "So I'm like, 'Well, where's Jimmy?' They tell me he's down there. I'm like, 'Do we have any players here who want to play?' Thankfully, we got the win."
Trying to rein Draymond in can, at times, feel like a matador trying to tame a wild bull. But as Kerr and his staff have learned, it's all part of the package deal with Green. And Kerr wouldn't have it any other way.
Related: A Costly Milestone: Draymond Green officially hits $1M in career fines
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
