Draymond Green Defends Flipping Off Fans: 'I Make $25M a Year. I Should Be Just Fine'

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green isn't sweating a fine from the NBA after he flipping the bird to Memphis Grizzlies fans during his team's 106-101 loss Tuesday night at FedEx Forum. 

Green told reporters he was willing to accept whatever punishment the league decides:

"You gonna boo someone who was elbowed in the eye and face is running with blood, you should get flipped off. I'll take the fine. I'll do an appearance and make up the money. It felt really good to flip them off. ... If they are going to be that nasty, I will be nasty too. I'm assuming the cheers were because they know I'll be fined. Great — I make $25 million a year. I should be just fine."

The four-time All-Star needed stitches around his eye after getting elbowed by Xavier Tillman. As he was walking back to the locker room, he made his thoughts about the crowd known:

Green wasn't the only Warriors player who had to exit after a hard foul. Dillon Brooks received a flagrant-2 foul after hitting Gary Payton II in the head and inadvertently sending him into the stanchion of the basket.

Payton suffered a fractured left elbow from the fall.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he didn't think Brooks intentionally tried to injure Payton but that the foul was "dirty" and went against the unspoken code of basketball:

For Green, a fine is inevitable and independent of his postgame comments.

In April, the NBA docked Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving $50,000 for "making obscene gestures on the playing court and directing profane language toward the spectator stands."

As Green alluded to, a fine of that amount would be a drop in the bucket for a player who's pulling down $25.8 million this season.

Over the years, though, he has collectively written quite a sizable check to the league office. Per Spotrac, Green has paid out $961,124 in fines across his career.

The 32-year-old has relished being a pantomime villain on the court, and he probably isn't stopping anytime soon.