Former NBA guard Nick Young only spent one season playing for the Warriors, but that 2017-18 campaign was long enough for him to witness a Draymond Green-Steve Kerr tussle or two.

Speaking on Gilbert Arenas’ “The Arena” podcast, Young lent his insight into Green and Kerr’s relationship, and why their clash Monday night isn’t the same as past quarrels.

“[Green and Kerr] always fight,” Young said. “They got into a big fight in [Oklahoma City] where we had to pull Draymond back, pull Steve Kerr back. But this time it’s different because they’re not the same championship team.”

On an otherwise feel-good night for the Warriors—they trounced the Orlando Magic to climb back to the .500 mark at 15-15—Green and Kerr became embroiled in a heated discussion during a timeout, prompting Green to leave the floor completely and take refuge in the Golden State locker room.

“Tempers spilled over,” Green said in his postgame press conference. “And I thought it was best that get out of there. I didn’t think it was a situation where it was going to get better. So, it was best to remove myself.”

“Tempers spilled over, and I just thought it was best that I get out of there.”

Draymond Green shares his side of his tense exchange with Steve Kerr on the Warriors’ bench pic.twitter.com/4wm9OucW0z

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) December 23, 2025

Kerr essentially echoed Green’s telling of events in his own postgame presser.

“We got into it, obviously,” Kerr said. “And I took the timeout because I thought we lost our focus there a little bit. And we had it out a little bit. And he made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off.”

A day later, Young expressed uncertainty over whether this current version of the Warriors is built to withstand a squabble between its head coach and most volatile player.

“Everything going on with Steve Kerr, [his situation with Jonathan] Kuminga…it’s a lot over there,” Young said. “I just don’t know where they’re at this year. They feel like they just need to blow everything up at this point. This ain’t the first [instance] of them fighting. OKC was probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen between a player [and] coach. They both [were] holding each other back and cussing…it was a lot. It was a lot.”

Despite the dramatics on Monday, Golden State pulled away in the second half for a 23-point win over Orlando, a positive sign that Kerr can still focus his squad even with distractions lingering on his own bench.

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