It’s been some time since Draymond Green has kicked an opposing player during a game. But for a minute there, he earned a reputation for being a guy who would do anything—including kicking someone below the belt—to gain a competitive advantage. He once kicked Thunder center Steven Adams in the groin during a playoff game, and he also appeared to kick James Harden in the face at the top of the next season.
It looks like Adams may have taken the baton from Green with regards to kicking people, though, as he made headlines on Thursday night for doing some kicking of his own. During the Thunder’s win over the Wizards, Adams was going after a rebound when he stuck his foot up and kicked Bradley Beal directly in the groin area. Beal went down immediately after the play was whistled dead and stayed down for several moments trying to shake off the pain.
The referees stopped the game to review the play and eventually rewarded Beal with a pair of free throws after handing Adams a technical for the kick. They determined he had kicked Adams on purpose on the play.
It’s hard to tell whether or not Adams actually meant to kick Beal. Some fans have argued that Marcin Gortat caused Adams to flail his leg and kick Beal by pulling him down, and TNT analyst Reggie Miller went as far as to call the kick "inadvertent." But Green wasn’t so sure about that.
House of Highlights posted a clip of Adams kicking Beal, and of course, Green just had to weigh in on it. After all the flack he took for kicking Adams a couple years back, he didn’t hesitate to suggest Adams had kicked Beal on purpose.
"Inadvertent?" Green asked. "That’s like an actual kick though… Hahahaha funny."
Inadvertent or not, Adams will likely face some kind of fine for the kick. He’s also going to be subjected to plenty of Green’s infamous trash talk the next time the Warriors and Thunder play.
