Draymond Green struck again on Thursday night.
The Golden State Warriors star Green was criticized for a seemingly dirty move on Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. during their game. In the third quarter at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, Smith knocked Green to the ground and was called for an offensive foul.
On the dead-ball sequence, Green got up and grabbed Smith’s ankle from behind while Smith was walking away. Here is the video.
Draymond Green was assessed a technical foul after he grabbed Jabari Smith Jr.'s ankle
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 6, 2026
Good or bad call?pic.twitter.com/vUo1q0oyns
Green was ultimately given a technical foul for the ankle-grab on Smith. That led to one foul shot for the Rockets, which former Warriors star Kevin Durant sank.
What made that play especially dirty by Green was that Smith had just returned from an ankle injury. He sprained his right ankle on Feb. 26 against the Orlando Magic and sat out of Houston’s next two games before returning on Thursday against the Warriors.
Unfortunately though, those kinds of plays are just par for the course with Green. While the ex-Defensive Player of the Year still insists that he is somehow not a dirty player, Green’s very long history of technical, flagrant, and ejection-worthy offenses (which he has added to this season as well) suggests otherwise.
