Draymond Green Stomp

About

Draymond Green Stomp refers to a moment in the 2023 NBA playoffs when Golden State Warriors player Draymond Green got entangled with Sacramento Kings player Domantas Sabonis and appeared to slam his foot on his abdomen in order to free himself. The moment got Green ejected from the basketball game and inspired jokes and memes on social media referencing the incident, with many comparing Green's supposed "stomp" to wrestling moves.

Origin

On April 17th, 2023, the Golden State Warriors faced the Sacramento Kings in game two of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. In the fourth quarter, after the Warriors secured a rebound, Kings player Domantas Sabonis fell to the floor and appeared to grab Draymond Green's leg. In an effort to shake himself free, Green slammed his foot on Sabonis' abdomen. The referees then ejected him from the game for the incident.

Speaking after the game, Green defended himself by saying, "My leg got grabbed. Second time in two nights. Referees just watch it. I have to land my foot somewhere. I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far."^[1]

Spread

Following the match on April 17th, 2023, the moment inspired online debate as to whether Green was justified in his actions.^[2] It also quickly led to multiple jokes and memes on social media. Several commenters joked it resembled a wrestling stomp. For example, on April 18th, Twitter users @KBO_XXV and @LakeShowYo both tweeted clips of wrestling stomps to joke about the moment, gaining over 4,000 retweets and 15,000 likes and 2,600 retweets and17,000 likes, respectively, in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Draymond Green when Sabonis grabbed his leg: pic.twitter.com/E1OY5PDnKH

— K.BO XXV (@KBO_XXV) April 18, 2023

how Draymond did Sabonis 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/HiemsZ5xxy

— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) April 18, 2023

Others posted different pop culture references to mock the moment. For example, on April 18th, Twitter user @GuruLakers^[3] posted an image of a flattened person, gaining over 450 retweets and 3,100 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). User @PFTCommenter^[4] also posted a joke that day, using a Joe Biden Moveset image, and gained over 270 retweets and 5,200 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Wow. Hadn’t seen this angle of the Draymond Stomp yet. Looks REALLY bad. pic.twitter.com/QLTMKp4fWG

— Taco Trey Kerby (@treykerby) April 18, 2023

Draymond when there’s a player on the floor pic.twitter.com/MZ3EhgV8F3

— Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) April 18, 2023

DRAYMOND OH MY GOODNESS pic.twitter.com/CBERE3D1XR

— 🎽 (@WestbrickHas2Go) April 18, 2023

Search Interest

External References