Draymond Green and Devin Booker’s Play-In ejection was just the opening act. While the incident sparked rumors of a punch, the actual story came from Green himself, who later accused Booker of lying to referee Scott Foster, who shares a history with both teams, to escalate the entire situation.

The 2017 DPOY recently denied the claims on The Draymond Green Show, saying, “Devin Booker told Scott Foster that I punched him in the stomach, which is a lie. Number one, a punch is with a closed fist. Number two, it’s very obvious I was taking a foul. So, Scott Foster goes to review it, realizes I didn’t punch him in the stomach, and he calls an away-from-the-play foul. Guy’s passing the ball. So I’m not sure how it’s away from the play.”

With 1:06 left and the Warriors down by double digits to the Phoenix Suns, Draymond Green delivered a hard foul on Devin Booker during an inbound play. The foul was a sly move to stop the flow, buying time as Stephen Curry and Al Horford headed off. Meanwhile, Booker stayed ice-cold, drilling the technical free throw after the off-ball call.

Green recalled his conversation standing on the sidelines as Booker got ready to shoot:

“However, I was standing on the sideline, and Book was shooting a free throw, and I was saying, ‘Yo, Book, I punched you?’ And I just kept saying, ‘So, I punched you, you know?’ and he didn’t want to answer,” the Warriors veteran continued. “And so I kept asking him, and then finally he was like, ‘Uh, man, I said I moved on, Dray. I ain’t know. I said I moved on.’ And I asked again, ‘So I punched you?’ He got a little testy and started making some comments. So, I made some comments back to him, but make no mistake about it, man.”

The incident recalled Green’s history of physical altercations, most notably the 2022 practice punch on then-teammate Jordan Poole. In October 2022, the two had gotten into an argument during a Warriors team practice, and Green punched him. Although the NBA didn’t suspend Green for this act, he stepped away from the team for a week. The punch had major consequences. It broke the team’s chemistry and ultimately led to Poole’s trade to the Washington Wizards.

Green currently has the second-most ejections in NBA history, trailing Rasheed Wallace. But apart from that, the Warriors-Suns matchup is always tightly contested, with both vying for a top position in the Western Conference. Historically, the Suns have beaten the Warriors with an 11-4 record.

Two days after the incident, viral audio of the on-court exchange revealed the direct cause of the confrontation that led to both stars being ejected.

Audio from the Draymond Green-Devin Booker clash

Following the foul, tensions boiled over as both stars traded heated words near the Warriors’ bench, with Green asking Booker from across the court, ‘I punched you?”

“Sit the f— down,” the 29-year-old Suns star clapped back. “Don’t do that… you ain’t like that, Book,” Draymond further said. But Booker was also in a no-nonsense mood. He fired back, “Come on, n—-.” So did Green. “Shut your soft a– up… you know you ain’t like that,” he said.

Despite the on-court drama, Green assured that there is no bad blood between him and the Suns star. Both go way back; they were teammates on Team USA for the Olympics.

“Book, that’s my young fella. Always have been. That relationship stems back to Book being in high school. And ain’t nothing going to change that relationship,” Green said. “We had that moment. What really pissed me off was we got ejected. We weren’t cursing at each other or anything. We were talking back and forth.”

Green’s podcast comments put a definitive end to the ‘punch’ rumor, reframing the incident as a verbal spat. While he insists the relationship with Booker is unchanged, the public nature of the call-out adds another chapter to their on-court rivalry.