Draymond Green wasn’t the Warriors leader most know him to be after the Jordan Poole situation.
Instead, the four-time NBA champion took a back seat and distanced himself from his Golden State teammates.
In an exclusive interview with Andscape’s Marc J. Spears, Green explained how he disengaged from the Warriors before being inspired to reel himself back in the mix.
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“Green told Andscape that he became less engaged with his teammates outside of work for three main reasons: Being a family man with a wife and three children, a been-there-done-that NBA veteran mentality, and a belief that he needed to be less engaged after punching then-Warriors teammate Jordan Poole in a 2022 practice,” wrote Spears.
Green is one of the league’s most vocal and seemingly motivating teammates. However, he admitted that wasn’t the case after the Green-Poole incident on Oct. 5, 2022, among being mentally occupied with other things.
It was hard for Green to figure out what to do after being in the limelight for hitting Poole. Even after issuing public and private apologies, things weren’t normal between Green, Poole and the Warriors.
“Then [Poole] happened and I’m like, ‘I really just gotta do my own thing, stay to the side, stay out the way,’ ” Green told Spears. “I’m not sure that was the right thing either. But during when it was going on, that’s what feels right. Hindsight is 20/20. We always look at something like, ‘If I would’ve knew this then, I would’ve did X.’ So, at that time that’s what felt right to me.
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“I can’t sit here and tell you that it was right. But what I can tell you is that ain’t the right thing for me personally. I’m not a loner by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t know how people do that.”
Being distant isn’t who Green typically is; though, he temporarily was until tragedy struck Golden State during the 2023-24 season.
The passing of assistant coach Dejan Milojević drastically shifted locker room dynamics. There wasn’t any room for hiccups and loneliness, as the Warriors needed each other. This led Green to change his mentality, he explained to Spears, and to be re-engaged.
Spears added that Green had a “revelation” after Milojević’s death. And Green was clear that while the nightmare brought him closer to the Golden State, the Poole situation already was in the rearview.
“No, that wasn’t necessarily me moving on from it,” Green told Spears about Milojević’s passing possibly inducing the Warriors’ forward to move past the Poole situation. “I moved on long before I had to. You can’t sit and stand in the mud and dwell on the past. I apologized for my wrongdoings. I tried to do everything I can to make it right. I can’t sit there and dwell on it.
“You just continue to grow. You continue to realize what matters. So oftentimes we sit and we complain. And for me, I always try to remind myself, ‘Everybody has s--t. What makes your s--t so special?’ It’s just your s--t. It also doesn’t make someone else s--t less. That’s their s--t.”
Green, who faced a few suspensions last season, has come a long way team-engagement-wise since the Poole incident.
In talking to Spears, Green emphasized creating a fun environment with Golden State as retired NBA veterans Jared Jack and David Lee did for him early in his career.
Green can’t change what happened with Poole and the aftermath that ensued. What’s done is done. However, Green can continue to catalyze positivity within the Warriors organization.
“It happened,” Green said about the Poole dilemma. “I moved on long ago and tried to do what I can to move forward, help people move forward. The Deki situation wasn’t that for me, it was just what it was. Go to work with somebody every day. And then all of a sudden you’re not.”
The Warriors, who are undefeated entering their preseason finale against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, would appreciate Green, with the Poole incident long behind him, being engaging as normal during the 2024-25 NBA season.
And Green seemingly doesn't want to be in as dark of a position ever again.
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