Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green made a bold assertion about Karl-Anthony Towns after the New York Knicks center missed the team’s recent game against the Golden State Warriors.
In the latest edition of his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show,” Green suggested that Towns had sat out the Knicks’ March 4 game against Golden State because he was avoiding facing Golden State’s Jimmy Butler. Butler and Towns are former teammates, and were both involved in a now-infamous 2018 practice that saw Butler call out numerous Minnesota Timberwolves players, Towns included.
Green suggested that the situation and Towns’ unexplained absence on Tuesday were connected.
Draymond Green in a warmup shirt
May 18, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) before game one of the 2022 western conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
“Some would say (Towns) didn’t play because Jimmy was in the building. I don’t know,” Green said. “They said KAT ain’t playing because Jimmy came into town, and him and Jimmy had the infamous practice in Minnesota. I don’t know. I don’t know what was hurt. I didn’t look that deep into it to figure out what his injury was.”
This is just a reckless and inappropriate conversation from Draymond and Baron Davis. Wouldn’t have been hard to do a little research or make a phone call before posting pic.twitter.com/GWyxXVYRQO
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) March 6, 2025
Green is correct that he did not do his homework, because there was no injury to speak of. Towns was officially away from the team for personal reasons. Towns’ longtime girlfriend Jordyn Woods revealed that she had attended a funeral service on Wednesday for one of her closest friends, and while it has not been confirmed, many fans assumed that Towns’ absence was related to that.
Prayers to @jordynwoods & @KarlTowns
Our condolences are with you ❤️ pic.twitter.com/uFIsn3Texc
— Big Knick Energy (@BigKnickEnergy_) March 6, 2025
Towns had already returned to the Knicks ahead of Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
It’s not clear if Green was joking around, trying to stir things up, or simply repeating something he had heard elsewhere. No matter what, it is not a great look for him to be spreading such a rumor given the personal nature of Towns’ absence, and he was sharply criticized for it on social media, including by several Knicks media members.
Draymond Green suggests on his podcast that Karl-Anthony Towns missed Tuesday’s game vs GSW because he wanted to avoid Jimmy Butler. Green casually throwing this out there on his platform without researching the situation is extremely irresponsible: pic.twitter.com/UkUpMp2111
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) March 6, 2025
Butler and Towns have played against each other six times since the practice incident. That includes a matchup from earlier this season, when Towns put up 44 points and collected 13 rebounds in an Oct. 30 victory over Butler’s Miami Heat. It would make very little sense for Towns to suddenly start avoiding Butler now after over six years of playing against him without any issues.
Green is no stranger to sharing bold and controversial takes, but he appears to have overstepped with this one. He might be better off doing a bit of homework next time he considers discussing something like this.