Famous throughout the basketball world for trash talking with NBA rivals, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green instead directed a few choice words at 89-year-old Brooklyn Nets superfan Bruce Reznick during Monday’s 120-107 win.
‘Sit ya old ass down!’ Green was heard yelling at Reznick after hitting the first of two free throws at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Known as ‘Mr. Whammy,’ Reznick is a widower and retired attorney who began attending New Jersey Nets games with his late wife, Judy, in the 1990s. Since Barclays Center opened in 2012, Reznick has been a fixture under the basket at the east end of the court, where he’s typically seen in a personalized ‘Mr. Whammy’ jersey while performing his eponymous hex.
And what, exactly, is a whammy?
The act takes place during opponents’ free throws and involves Reznick extending his index and pinkie fingers on both hands, facing his palms towards the floor and pointing at the shooter. The pièce de resistance comes right before the ball is released, when Mr. Whammy yells: ‘Miss!’
Of course, Green didn’t miss on Monday in Brooklyn, where he emphatically told Mr. Whammy to take a seat – something the former NBA Defensive Player of the Year claimed was all in good fun.
Draymond Green hit a pair of free throws on Monday while telling Mr. Whammy to take a seat
Known as ‘Mr. Whammy,’ Reznick is a retired attorney who spends his free time underneath the east basket at Barclays Center, where he distracts opposing free-throw shooters
Reznick (far right) responds to Green (under the basket) after being told to sit downÂ
‘I told him to sit his old ass down somewhere, man,’ Green told reporters after scoring seven points in the win. ‘Can’t be distracting me on my free throws… That was fun. I had a lot of fun tonight.’
Definitive evidence of Mr. Whammy’s effectiveness remains elusive. A 2015 study in The Wall Street Journal failed to prove he had any impact on opponents’ free-throw accuracy.
Green may not be the first NBA player to ask Reznick to take a seat. Most famously, then-Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James allegedly complained about Reznick in 2015, leading then-Nets CEO Brett Yormark (now the Big 12 Commissioner) to ask Mr. Whammy to return to his seat.
‘He complained about me,’ Reznick told the Journal of James in 2015.
A Cavs spokesman at the time denied that claim, but refused to comment further when asked if the team has complained on James’ behalf.
‘He’s the only one that ever complained about me,’ Reznick told the Journal. ‘All the time, players, they smile at me and we talk before the game, and I wish them good health and good luck, and that they should be very successful with no injuries.Â
‘The only thing that I require is that they miss the foul shot.’
While Mr. Whammy isn’t beloved by all basketball fans, he is being honored by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, where he and his late wife will be enshrined in its James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery in 2026.
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NBA star Draymond Green tells notorious 89-year-old heckler Mr. Whammy to ‘sit your old ass down!’