Draymond Green leaves Warriors' bench after argument with Steve Kerr - ESPN

SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and forward Draymond Green had a heated exchange during an early third-quarter timeout Monday night, causing Green to leave the bench and miss the final 20 minutes of a 120-97 win over the Orlando Magic.

The Warriors were trailing 71-66 at the time of the back-and-forth. Green had just committed a turnover and had been engaging with an official when Kerr called timeout and tried to herd his team to the huddle, saying he felt they were unfocused. That's when the argument occurred.

«We had it out a little bit,» Kerr said. «He made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off. That's all I'm going to say about it. Everything is private.»

Starting wing Moses Moody and assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse tried to calm Green. After some final words with Kerr, Green stood up and walked down the tunnel to the locker room.

«Tempers spilled over, and I thought it was best that I get out of there,» Green said. «I don't think it was a situation where it was going to get better. It was best to remove myself.»

Green spent the final 8:31 of the third quarter in the locker room. Veteran teammates Jimmy Butler III, Al Horford and Buddy Hield along with a couple of front office members went back to check on him.

Green returned to the bench prior to the fourth quarter, but he didn't remove his warmups and never checked back into the game. Kerr said he wouldn't have gone back to Green.

«No,» Kerr said. «He wasn't going back in. No. He left. He went back to the locker room. We moved forward, and the guys played great.»

It was the second straight game that Green had departed prematurely. He was ejected after playing only eight minutes in Saturday's home win over the Phoenix Suns