Draymond Green still feels the need to defend himself over the infamous Jordan Poole incident of three years ago.
A viral rumor made the rounds over social media this week about the alleged circumstances that led to the Golden State Warriors star Green punching his then-teammate Poole during a practice in 2022. The rumor claimed Warriors coach Steve Kerr told Poole to stand up for himself against Green. Poole then allegedly told Green that “you’re an expensive backpack for 30 [Warriors star Steph Curry],” which supposedly then led to Green punching him.
Green responded to the rumor in a post to his Threads page on Tuesday. He posted several cap emojis, which was his way of saying “cap” (slang for a lie).
Draymond calls cap on rumors about how things transpired leading up to his altercation with Jordan Poole. pic.twitter.com/Rcq6vP2uVj
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) August 26, 2025
It is unclear what part of the rumor Green was disputing exactly. But he clearly did not agree with the re-telling of the notorious incident that was going around this week.
Green’s punch of Poole (which you can see the video of here) ended up having an enormous effect on the Warriors and their longer-term trajectory. Poole, a key piece when Golden State won the NBA title in 2022, was tabbed by many to be the eventual successor at guard to Curry. But instead, the relationship between Green and Poole never recovered (which some lead Warriors figures have since acknowledged), and that factored into the team’s decision to trade away Poole in 2023. Poole was sent to the Washington Wizards as part of the Chris Paul trade and is now on the New Orleans Pelicans after having been included in the CJ McCollum trade earlier this summer.
Meanwhile, the Poole punch is the one episode that Green still cannot let go. In the years since Poole was traded, Green has beefed with Poole on the court as opponents and has even got into public spats with Poole’s father.
