Draymond Green went after Doris Burke on social media Thursday, accusing the ESPN analyst of showing bias against him and taking shots whenever she gets the chance.
The criticism came after the Golden State Warriors’ 126–113 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. Responding to a fan on Threads who claimed Burke ignored a sequence in which Victor Wembanyama had his arm wrapped around him, Green suggested the longtime ESPN NBA commentator’s approach to covering him has been an ongoing issue.
“She will always ignore things happening to me and only half mention the good,” Green wrote. “And take shots when they are available. Been that way for a while.”
View on Threads
Green scored 17 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and dished out eight assists in Thursday’s loss while spending most of his night defending Wembanyama, who finished with 26 points. The Warriors blew a 16-point third-quarter lead and fell to 29-26, sliding into the Western Conference’s eighth seed heading into All-Star Weekend. It was one of Green’s better performances of the season, but according to Green, Burke didn’t acknowledge that on the broadcast.
Burke and Mike Breen called out Green pretty directly during the Warriors’ playoff series against the Rockets last May, with Burke specifically questioning whether Green gets special treatment from officials. After Green was assessed a Flagrant 1 for his actions against Houston’s Jalen Green in Game 6, he immediately started yelling at the officials about the call.
“How many guys get this kind of leash, in the league, to get a Flagrant 1 and continue the discussion?” Burke asked.
“What we’re watching is a person’s greatest strength and greatest weakness,” Burke continued. “He walks this line. But you’ve just gotten a Flagrant 1. And I would stand by this; Over the history of Draymond’s career, it feels like there’s been a double standard.”
That was nine months ago. Green clearly hasn’t forgotten. Now he’s accusing Burke of ignoring fouls against him, downplaying his good performances, and taking shots at him whenever she can. It’s almost impossible to prove a claim like that, but Green clearly believes it. And he believed it enough to put Burke’s name on it publicly, which, with Green, is usually the point.
Burke was demoted from the network’s No. 1 NBA team in August after calling the 2025 NBA Finals alongside Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson. ESPN replaced her with Tim Legler, moving her to the No. 2 booth with Dave Pasch. The network struggled to find chemistry in the top booth after firing Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson in 2023, cycling through Doc Rivers, JJ Redick, Jefferson, and Burke in just two years.
Whether Burke responds remains to be seen. But Green — as history suggests — probably isn’t done talking about it.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.