Timberwolves say fan ejected for conduct toward Draymond Green at Thursday's playoff game

The Minnesota Timberwolves said they are investigating if a fan directed racially charged comments toward Golden State's Draymond Green during the fourth quarter of a playoff game between the teams on Thursday night.

The incident, which the Timberwolves confirmed Friday, preceded Green making a brief postgame statement saying he has grown tired of what he believes is the perception of him being an “angry Black man.”

A fan, the Timberwolves said, was ejected following an incident with Green. The Timberwolves did not detail what happened, other than the fan violated “the NBA Fan Code of Conduct.” There was a video circulating on social media showing Green, riding a stationary bike in an effort to stay loose midway through the fourth quarter and with security near him, responding to something said by someone in the stands.

“A second individual, who was identified by surrounding patrons as making racially charged comments towards Green, left on his own before arena security could confirm his identity," the Timberwolves said. “The team is continuing to investigate, and additional action may be taken.”

Green got his fifth technical foul of these playoffs earlier in Thursday's game. He did not take questions afterward, only giving a brief statement to a small number of reporters in the locker room.

“I’m tired of the agenda to make me look like the angry Black man,” Green said in those remarks, the entire session lasting only a few seconds. “I’m a very successful, educated Black man with a great family, and I’m great at basketball and great at what I do. The agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous.”

With that, Green walked away. It was not clear if he was responding to the technical foul, the fan interaction, or both.

“The Timberwolves and Target Center are firmly committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and safe environment for all,” the Minnesota statement said. "Racist, hateful, or threatening behavior has no place at our games or in our community and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Friday applauded Minnesota's quick handling of the issue. Kerr himself was subject of cruel taunting as a college player following the murder of his father Malcolm, president of the American University of Beirut, in Beirut when Kerr was 18 and a freshman at the University of Arizona.

“It's unacceptable for any fan to do that to a player,” Kerr said in a video call. "When you say it's unacceptable there has to be action that goes with that term and that's exactly what the Timberwolves did. Security immediately ejected the fan so we are really grateful for the way the T-Wolves handled the situation. I know that Minnesota nice is a phrase to describe Minnesotans and I found that to be 100% true.

“The last few days every single person I ran into was so kind and everybody was saying the same thing, ‘I’m pulling for the T-Wolves but you guys are always welcome in our city.' It's a real thing, the hospitality in Minneapolis, in Minnesota. So I never take words from one person and label a city with that. There's just going to be people, individuals, sometimes they're drunk, whatever, who cross the line and it's unfortunate but it doesn't at all impact my view of the city of Minneapolis.”

Green — who has made headlines numerous times in his career for his physicality on the court — made his comments after Golden State's loss to Minnesota on Thursday night, a game where he got a technical foul after flailing his arms and making contact after getting fouled by Timberwolves' Naz Reid.

Officials reviewed the play after Reid fell to the floor, assessing the technical.

If Green gets two more technical fouls in these playoffs, he will face a mandatory one-game suspension by league rule. Green will receive a warning letter from the league now that he has five postseason technicals, which is standard NBA practice.

“It's part of Draymond,” Kerr said after the Thursday's game when asked about the latest technical. “The same thing that makes him such a competitor and winner puts him over the top sometimes. We know that. It's our job to try to help him stay poised, stay composed. But the competition is so meaningful to him that occasionally he goes over the line.”

The Golden State-Minnesota series resumes Saturday in San Francisco, knotted at a game apiece.

Including playoffs, according to data compiled by SportRadar, Green has been assessed 202 technical fouls in his career.

He has faced NBA discipline countless times. Among them: Green missed 16 games last season after a suspension for striking Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic in the face during a Dec. 12, 2023, game, earned a five-game ban earlier that season after an altercation with Minnesota's Rudy Gobert, stepped on the chest of Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis and earned a suspension during the 2023 playoffs, plus missed Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals because of an accumulation of flagrant-foul points during that postseason.

AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) reacts to the crowd during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) is defended by Minnesota Timberwolves center/forward Naz Reid (11) and gets a technical foul for contact during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) reacts after missing a shot during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) reacts toward referee Tyler Ford during the second half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)