Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob made a telling admission about the deterioration of the relationship between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole in 2022-23.
In an appearance on “The TK Show” with The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami, Lacob was asked if the Warriors ultimately had to decide between keeping Poole or Green. While Lacob said he felt the relationship could have been fixed, he did say it was a concern.
“I don’t want to say absolutely that’s true, I think it’s fair to say there was some level of concern going forward whether that would be something that would work out,” Lacob said, via Taylor Wirth of NBC Sports Bay Area. “To be honest with you, I think it would have worked out and could have worked out. But I think it is fair to say, in order to make the numbers work next year, someone is probably going to be the odd man out. It just turned out, and it wasn’t planned, that it was Jordan. I really think Jordan’s a great player and we’re going to miss him. I know he had a tough playoffs, but he actually had a pretty good year.”
Lacob is not going to throw his former player under the bus, but this is pretty solid confirmation that the relationship was significantly fractured. Green’s infamous preseason punch hung over Golden State all season, though there were reports that Poole had some bigger issues with others.
Poole was ultimately shipped to the Washington Wizards as part of the Chris Paul trade. One figures that all parties will be better off as a result.
