Draymond Green: My wife is upset, but I’m glad son heard profane Boston chants

BOSTON – Draymond Green is not a hypocrite about swearing around children.

You can say a lot of things about him. And Celtics fans will – including repeatedly chanting “F*** you, Draymond” during Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday. But Green is not a hypocrite on this issue.

Some of the Warriors’ backlash to the chants centered on protecting children from profanity. Green’s wife, Hazel Renee, posted to Instagram:

Yet, Green took his 5-year-old son DJ to the press conference and said “s***” in front of him. How could Green criticize Boston fans for swearing around children?

Well, he isn’t.

Green on “The Draymond Green Show” podcast:

Hazel is pissed off.

Hazel is very upset, just because our kids were at the game, and they’re listening to that. And quite frankly, I don’t make much of it. For my daughter, who’s 1 – my 7-year-old is not here. She has school. 5-year-old DJ, I’m raising a warrior, no pun intended. I’m raising a man. So, I don’t make much of him hearing that or seeing that.

My 1-year-old, she probably can’t even make out what they’re saying. And then for DJ, who can, this is what is, man. This is what you got. And like I said before, he said he’s going to be a coach. Maybe that’s you one day that they’re yelling at like that. But you’ve seen your dad go through it. And we’re OK. We walked out of there smiling with our head held high, me chasing him down the hallway and him having a good time. And that’s how we’re going to walk out of there on Friday.

But for me and for him to see that, I’m actually happy he saw that. I’m actually happy he saw that. Because for the rest of his life, we will have the opportunity to talk about, ‘You remember when I went through X, Y and Z when you were 5? And you remember those people were saying this and saying that? It’s OK. You can get through it. Ain’t no big deal.’ So, that’s all it is for me.

Yes, my family is livid, and trust me, I get it. I totally understand. But for me, who’s raising a young Black man in America, for him to understand how this world works, for him to understand how America works as opposed to how they say America works, that was just another example of it.

It’s somewhat uncomfortable a parental disagreement is playing out publicly. But this is actually an encouraging story.

Both perspectives carry validity. There probably is value in shielding young children from that langue. There’s also value in teaching them how to handle it.

It’s OK to disagree. Green is comfortable having his own thoughts and allowing others to do the same.

With Green and Renee balancing each other, it sounds as if their kids are in good hands.