Report: Mike Brown Angered Knicks Organization By Hugging Draymond Green Last Week
Jan 21, 2026
The New York Knicks have plenty of things to figure out as they look to recover from their January slump. The last thing they want is more distractions as they teeter on emergency mode.
On Tuesday, the Knicks went viral for another reason. And it was far from a welcome development.
Appearing on “NBA Today,” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that Knicks head coach Mike Brown drew the ire of some higher-ups for something that he did during last Thursday’s matchup with the Golden State Warriors.
“That hug right there,” Shelburne said, pointing to a TV screen that showed a post-game moment involving Brown. “That did not land well with a lot of folks in New York.”
In that moment caught on camera, Brown shared an embrace with Draymond Green, who’d just helped the Warriors defeat the Knicks 126–113. While a hug after the final buzzer does not appear to be such a big deal, there are levels to this situation that Brown now finds himself in.
For starters, Brown was an associate head coach with the Warriors from 2016 to 2022. In that time frame, he and Green won three NBA championships together. Both key figures of the Warriors dynasty, Brown and Green, have gone through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, hence their relationship that endures to this day.
The problem, though, is that Brown now coaches a different franchise. And, this past Thursday, Green had committed a questionable act against one of that team’s stars. During the Knicks-Warriors game, the former Defensive Player of the Year was called for a flagrant foul after he tripped up Karl-Anthony Towns, who was driving to the basket.
As far as optics go, it’s not a good look for a head coach when he gets chummy with a former player who put one of his current stars in a dangerous situation. On top of that, the loss to the Warriors marked a second straight loss for the Knicks last week; that streak has now been extended to four after New York fell 114–97 to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
It’s likely that Brown meant no harm with his gesture towards Green, but the damage may have been done. Now, the Knicks head coach will have to embrace an even harder grind as he tries to get his team back to their winning ways.
