SAN FRANCISCO – Nights like these are just a part of the Draymond Green tax. The Golden State Warriors forward was tossed in the second quarter of their 123-114 win over the Utah Jazz.

Green picked up back-to-back technical fouls in quick succession after arguing with the officials about what appeared to be an uncalled three-second violation on Jazz forward Kyle Filipowski. After referee Simone Jelks assessed him his first technical foul, Green continued to jaw at the officials, at which point referee Kevin Cutler gave him his second tech, tossing him from the game.

Green finished with eight points, three rebounds and two assists with a -15 plus/minus in 12 minutes of action. After the game, Steve Kerr described what he saw that led to Green's quick ejection.

“I didn't hear what [Green] said, but it was a quick one,” Kerr said. “I know he got the [technical] and then Kevin [Cutler] tossed him almost immediately. So I don’t know what he said, but I assume it was something Kevin wasn’t going to listen to.”

After Green was ejected, with the Warriors trailing by 11 with 2:25 remaining in the second quarter, the team rallied thanks to the third-quarter efforts of Stephen Curry. Steph scored 20 points in the third quarter, the 45th time he has done that in a quarter, finishing with 31 points on the night to fend off the lottery-bound Jazz.

Curry also didn't know precisely what Green said to the officials, but noted that the locker room consensus was he didn't say enough to get thrown out.

Hard questions arise from Green's ejection

Green's ejection was the third time in the last eight games he departed prematurely.

In the Warriors' 119-116 win over the Phoenix Suns, Green got tossed in a similar manner. Green argued with officials over a kerfuffle with Suns guard Collin Gillespie, leading to two quick techs and an ejection.

And in the following 120-97 win over the Orlando Magic, Green got into a heated argument with Kerr during a timeout midway through the third quarter. It led to Green leaving the bench and missing the remaining 20 minutes of the game.

Again, that's part of the Draymond Green tax; the Warriors aren't strangers to these kinds of incidents. That same temper and fire that has gotten him ejected on occassion is also what has fueled a Hall of Fame career. As Steve Kerr has said multiple times: Golden State doesn't win four titles without Green.

But as the Warriors hover just above .500, it's hard not to wonder if that tax outweighs all the good that comes with it.

Over the last month, Green has tallied a cumulative -65 plus/minus, turning the ball over 30 times in the process. Put that against his 44 assists in that span and you get a 1.46 assist/turnover ratio, which is well below his 2.41 career average.

Throw in the fact that Golden State rallied to win all three of those contests without him, and those kinds of questions begin to seep in. Humongous, franchise-altering questions like whether the Warriors are better off without Green.

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But Jimmy Butler vehemently declared that's not the case. In his postgame interview, he dismissed the notion that the Warriors are better off without Green.

“Hell naw, that ain't the formula,” Butler said, shaking his head. “No, no, no, no. We need 2-3 out there… When you're a man down, you really got to pick up everything. It's hard, it's genuinely hard to cover up what he does on both sides of the floor. The IQ on both sides of the floor. Obviously, the defense, and to get everybody the ball.

“Dray started off hot, you know what I'm saying? It's so hard to do what he does, but it's a collective effort when he's not out there.”

Kerr's sentiments on Green echoed Butler's thoughts.

“I think a lot of the numbers, you get small sample sizes, you see different things happen,” Kerr said. “I can tell you this: you look at Draymond's career, and he's on the plus side in a massive way, over and over again. And the last 8-10, games, we've started the same way. We've had a better feel, better rotation, and I think we're overall playing better. And I think he's playing better as well.”

The on/off numbers support Kerr and Butler's belief. According to Cleaning the Glass, Green is a +5.3 efficiency differential on the season, signaling he remains a positive on both ends.

Combine that with the equity Green has built over years upon years of winning, and it's nowhere near outlandish to say the Warriors need him. The IQ, the defense, the playmaking, the leadership, they need that. But to get that, they need Green on the court and not in the locker room watching his teammates rally without him.

Through 35 games, Green has nine technical fouls. The NBA triggers an automatic one-game suspension when a player reaches 16 technicals. The Warriors aren't in the golden days when they could survive a Green suspension with no problems.

“We need Draymond, and I want him out there,” Kerr said, aware of Green's growing technical foul count. “We're not halfway through the season yet. A long way to go, and we need him.”