The 2026 NBA Playoffs are finally set, and they won’t include the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors won their first game in the play-in tournament, but they failed in their bid to grab the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference on Friday night in a defeat to the Phoenix Suns. Golden State now has to pray for lottery luck after finishing 37-45 overall. The organization enters the lottery in 11th place with a 9.4 percent chance at a top-4 pick and a two percent chance at the No. 1 pick.
Draymond Green punched Devin Booker and crashed out in wild ejection in Warriors’ elimination game
Draymond Green is still acting like Draymond Green.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
The Warriors’ loss forces a lot of uncomfortable questions on the franchise. Will Steve Kerr be the coach next season? Can they actually build a good team around Stephen Curry at age-38? Every player on the roster will have to be evaluated, and you can bet the Warriors will at least be mentioned as a possible trade suitor for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
As some things about the Warriors may start to change, at least Golden State has a constant in Draymond Green. The play-in tournament showed everything Green has always been made of: he locked down Kawhi Leonard in a virtuoso defensive performance in game one, then crashed out and a caused a ruckus at the end of game two with an unhinged on-court action and animated exit after an ejection.
With about a minute left in the game and the Suns’ win already decided, Green sprinted at Devin Booker and punched him in the chest really hard for no reason. Watch the play here:
First of all, what the hell? Secondarily, WHY?
Green fouled out on this play, but he kept barking at Booker from the bench. Eventually, referee Scott Foster had enough and ejected both players. Draymond definitely deserved his ejection. Did Booker?
Draymond is literally a professional wrestler who moonlights on the side as one of the greatest defensive geniuses of all-time. This is incredible stuff.
This tweet put it perfectly:
The Warriors’ season is over. Things are about to change, but Draymond will always be Draymond.
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