An impressive 120-97 victory over the Orlando Magic was overshadowed by another controversial Draymond Green incident on Monday night, with the Golden State Warriors forward leaving the game after a heated exchange with head coach Steve Kerr on the sidelines.
Green played less than 18 minutes and didn't play at all after heading back to the locker room, but it's what happened on the floor without him that continues to prove a glaring problem for both he and the Warriors going forward.
Warriors are proving better without Draymond Green right now
While Green and Kerr each admitted to the fiery exchange during a timeout in the third-quarter, they both equally tried to downplay the incident and believe it will have no lingering effects on the team.
Even if that is the case and this was nothing but an isolated incident (albeit 'isolated incident' and 'Draymond Green' don't tend to go hand in hand), there's a big problem at play in terms of the 35-year-old's ability to impact winning over recent games.
Draymond gets sent to the lockers after heated debate w coach Kerr pic.twitter.com/hJ2KRuzawX
— clipside (@shubhydoo) December 23, 2025
Green hasn't recorded a positive plus-minus this month, having now been a -60 in his last six games. During that time, the former Defensive Player of the Year missed three games in which the Warriors won two against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls by a combined 37 points.
Green has now played just 26 minutes over the last two games, having been ejected early in the second-quarter of Saturday's game against the Phoenix Suns after being a -6 in eight minutes. Golden State trailed by 10 when Green left that game, only to recover and claim a 119-116 victory that snapped their three-game losing streak.
Again, the Warriors were down five when the heated exchange happened on Monday night and Green left the game, before outscoring the Magic 54-26 over the final nearly 21 minutes to record one of their more impressive victories of the season.
This is now a reasonable stretch of basketball where Golden State have simply been better when Green has been off the floor. That's the biggest problem here, and rather the incident with Kerr only compounds the issue rather than being the primary one.
It's not overly shocking to see the offense improve without the 4x All-Star, particularly after his 13 combined turnovers in his last two full games. More concerning for Green is the fact the Warriors have seemingly not only held up defensively, but somehow have been better without him in recent times.
Green's incident with Kerr on Monday in itself won't see his minutes reduced, his starting spot in jeopardy, or his place on the roster under threat leading into the trade deadline, but his form and lack of impact certainly could as the Warriors try to gather momentum and evaluate their best lineup combinations.