The Warriors recently have been very open and honest about the preseason scuffle between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole and how it affected their season, which ended in the Western Conference semifinals.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the incident “played a role” in the lack of team chemistry and culture. Green said Golden State still would be fighting to defend its latest title if he never punched Poole seven months ago. And Poole said his relationship with Green strictly is business.
After all of that, Green said talking about the situation on “Stephen A.’s World” helped him “really, really” move on from it but acknowledged that there's still work to be done to repair his relationship with Poole.
“You put it behind you during the season and you try to build things and move on, but now it allows you to move on,” Green said on the latest episode of “The Draymond Green Show," which was released Wednesday. “But there's still work to be done. Jordan is still my teammate. I still have some repairing to do, and attempts to repair, ultimately, being up to him and what he's open to.
“But it's on me as a leader, it's on me as a teammate to continue to try to make that right. His feelings are his feelings. I saw his comment where he said, ‘Look it's basketball.’ I agree, it was business, it was basketball, and it's always going to be that because, at the end of the day, we are teammates. As long as we are teammates, it has to be that. But it is my job to try to better that.”
Video of the incident from Warriors practice back in October was leaked to TMZ and shared by the outlet. In the video, Green and Poole appear to exchange words from a distance before Green walks over to Poole and goes chest to chest with the young guard.
Poole shoves Green away before being punched in the face by the Warriors veteran, sending him to the ground.
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Green took some time away from the team but then came back in time for the season, appearing that things were OK for the rest of the way.
They weren't.
"And let's face it, if the video never comes out, is it here? I don't think so," Green said. "I think that was a huge, huge thing. One that made it really hard for him to move on from. Will he ever be able to move on from it? I don't know. But it is on me to try and make that happen.
"But I am happy to be putting that behind as far as this goes, and moving forward, and working to do the things that we need to do win a championship again next year. That is my focus, that is my goal, happy to be done with that."
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Ultimately, as two competitors, that surely is all both Poole and Green want moving forward. Everything else, as Green attested to, will be on him.