“He is the dirtiest player in the league” NBA Twitter fumes with anger after viral video indicates Draymond Green trying to injure Jayson Tatum
Andrew Walker
Updated on March 31, 2026
NBA finals are getting more and more physical as both the Conference champions are not willing to slow down. From Stephen Curry getting more frequent bumps than usual, to Jayson Tatum getting manhandled on loose balls. Draymond Green was targeted by many fans – this time for his unsporting on-court activity against the Celtics young stud.
Boston Celtics emerged as a different beast at TD Garden. They previously had a better road record than home games in the postseason but fired up the Celtics team dominated Game 3 of the 2022 NBA Finals from start to finish. Once again the 4th quarter proved to be the game-changer, but the Celtics were building up the pressure right from the 1st tip. Golden State Warriors were struggling against the physicality in the game. But then Draymond Green tried to get aggressive on Jayson Tatum, which really was over the limit.
Draymond already had the worst game and tried the unacceptable physical assault on Jayson Tatum. It happened midway in the second quarter when Andrew Wiggins made his last free throw. But instead of going for the ball, Green tried to grab Tatum’s right shoulder and injure him. His actions were caught on camera, and many viewers thrashed Draymond for harsh physical game play.
Did Draymond Green tried to injure Jayson Tatum on purpose?
Jayson Tatum has been sensational over the postseason games and proved to be the main offensive weapon for Boston Celtics. He did help well in defenses some time. He averages around 27 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, and 1 steal per game in the playoffs. The Eastern Conference Finals MVP proved pivotal in every series and stayed hot in the Finals too.
Coming back to the game 3 incident, Draymond Green was attempting to grab Tatum’s shoulder and tried to make it look natural, but many fans and pundits targeted the former defensive player of the season for his unsporting actions.
In reality, Jayson’s right shoulder was injured in Game 3 against Miami Heat, and Green’s attempt to grab the same – when the ball was nowhere near, was quite suspicious activity. Following Draymond’s “bad boy” image, many targeted the Warriors’ star forward.
Though Draymond didn’t get any foul for these actions, it certainly caught some eyes and he now has to be careful going forward. Golden State Warriors need all the stars to win their 4th NBA Championship in the last 8 seasons. Draymond’s menace action flooded Twitter, while some NBA fans have had some hilarious reactions to his ridiculous move.
Former NFL Champion Shannon sharp also found it ugly as he wrote,
At some point the officials will need a backbone or it’s only going to get worse with Draymond. This is getting ridiculous
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) June 9, 2022
I'm sorry but Draymond Green is now way more bark than bite.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) June 9, 2022
Before I’m a man, I am a Draymond Green hater
— Jozu Lucílfer 🇵🇦 (@thaboyjozu) June 9, 2022
Draymond Green is doing everything but playing basketball in this first half.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 6, 2022
It's not a coincidence at all that Draymond attacked Tatum's right shoulder, where he's been nursing an injury. Draymond did the exact same thing to Harden's injured wrist in 2017. He knows exactly what he's doing.
— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) June 9, 2022
Draymond Green grabbing and pulling on Jayson Tatum's injured shoulder.
"Breaking the Code" only applies to other teams, apparently.
— Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) June 9, 2022
Draymond green having to result to putting wwe moves on jayson tatum bad shoulder because he can’t score more than 0 pts to impact the game lmao
— jw (@the__johnw) June 9, 2022
draymond green, a dirty player, targeting jayson tatum’s injured shoulder and not getting called for a foul
— boston celtics enjoyer (@techbropicasso) June 9, 2022