Draymond Green Complains NBA Fines Don't Set Up Players for Financial Success

Tom Dierberger | May 24, 2024

Warriors forward Draymond Green expresses his displeasure with a foul call to referee Mousa Dagher during the fourth quarter at Chase Center. / D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green isn't too pleased about the NBA's system of fining players for antics on the court.

Green vented to four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal about his experience with fines on the latest episode of The Big Podcast With Shaq.

"The [NBA] fines to me don't make sense," Green said. "When you talk about as hard as we work to accumulate wealth, coming from situations that most people never make it out, and then you get fined the way we get fined. It's actually not set up for us to be wealthy after we're done playing. This job is not set up. The way we're taxed, the way we're fined.

"You hear about all these programs—this program this, that program that—that s--- is to cover everybody's a--. ... But if I do something wrong, I lose $100,000? Man, it took my mom four years when I was growing up to make $100,000. And I lose that in a night because ... what? The referee got mad at me and he didn't like what I said to him. So I lose $5,000 like that? On a tech?"

“It’s actually not set up for us to be wealthy after we’re done playing.”

-Draymond Green on the NBA’s fines 👀💰 pic.twitter.com/9vCrSc5htm

— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) May 24, 2024

Green has gained a reputation around the NBA as an instigator due to his long history of on-court antics and suspensions. His most well-known penalty was when he was suspended for Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals after an altercation with LeBron James in Game 4. The Warriors, up 3–1 in that series, lost the next three games of the series and missed out on a championship.

Green also spent time away from the Warriors ahead of the 2022-23 season after punching teammate Jordan Poole at practice. He was suspended twice during the 2023-24 regular season—five games for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold and 12 games for striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić.

After his encounter with Nurkić, the league had Green meet with a counselor and NBA representatives to demonstrate his commitment conducting himself up to the standards required of players.

Green cost himself over $769,000 in game checks by choking Gobert, and nearly $154,000 per game missed during his suspension for the Nurkić incident.

Green has made over $177 million over his 12-year career. He has three seasons remaining on the four-year, $100 million contract he signed in 2023.