Picture this. It’s the first round of the playoffs and the Sacramento Kings are hosting the Golden State Warriors for Game 2. Well, everything is going smoothly and the fans are on the edge of their seats engrossed in the thrilling encounter. But during the final quarter, the crowd is left fuming when Draymond Green suddenly stomps on Domantas Sabonis’ chest amid an on-court tussle. That’s exactly what happened last year and the Sacramento crowd has neither forgotten nor forgiven the Warriors forward.

As the Kings hosted the Bay Area team in tonight’s preseason game, the local community let Draymond Green know that he was not welcome. While the announcer was introducing the visiting team’s roster ahead of the game, the Golden 1 Center was filled with deafening boos when GSW’s floor general’s name was announced. Sure enough, it has become somewhat of a tradition as the forward gets the exact same treatment from the Sac crowd whenever he is in town for a game.

Obviously, the incident that led to this is not something fans can forget so easily. When Green stomped on Sabonis, the Kings big man was down on the floor for several minutes writhing in pain. Meanwhile, Green was busy egging on an already furious crowd as he constantly kept yelling at them from the bench. As expected, the forward received a Flagrant 2 foul and was booted from the game.

Dray was even suspended for the following game as the NBA issued a statement saying, “The suspension was based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts.” He’s been penalized with 21 flagrant fouls in his career and has been a part of several physical and verbal altercations on the court. Even last season, he was suspended twice, first for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold and later for hitting Jusuf Nurkic in the face. But Draymond has constantly defended his stomp on Sabonis despite being villainised in Sacramento.

Draymond Green blamed his ‘lack of flexibility’ for stomping on Sabonis’ chest

Following the incident, Green revealed his side of the story. “My leg got grabbed, the second time in two nights, and the referee is just watching. I got to land my foot somewhere, and I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far. I can only step so far with someone pulling my leg away.” Yes, while Draymond’s act was unsportsmanlike, Sabonis did momentarily grab the forward’s foot while he was trying to run back on offense. And the stomp could have been a retaliation for that grab.

And Draymond Green even justified the stomp by sharing the video on his Instagram story writing, “Nothing wrong here. Solid basketball play!!” Meanwhile, Sabonis’ wife, who was 7 months pregnant at the time, was left stunned when she saw her husband getting stomped on live TV. “I was horrified. I just remember, like, shaking, thinking I was gonna give birth.”

Continuing on the latest Netflix docu-series Starting 5, she said, “I just see them put a towel over my husband’s head, and I was like done. So, it was like personally, it was not enjoyable.” Fortunately, Domantas was not seriously injured after the unexpected play and was available for the entire series. But the incident did leave a lasting impact on the hooper’s family and the Kings fanbase.

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.