The Golden State Warriors insisted all year that they had moved past the ugly preseason incident between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, but it is clear the two players will not be spending any holidays together in the near future.
Green punched Poole in the face during an Oct. 5 Warriors practice, and a video of the altercation leaked. Green was fined but not suspended by the team. When he made his first public comments about the incident more than a week later, Poole insisted both he and Green are “professionals” and aligned with their goal of trying to win an NBA title.
After the Warriors were eliminated from the postseason with a Western Conference semifinals loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Logan Murdock of The Ringer asked Poole where his relationship with Green stands. The response was quite telling.
“I don’t have no answer for you,” Poole said. “Other than that, we was just on the court and teammates, and we was out there trying to win games. What I do recall saying at the beginning of the season is that, ‘We’re coming. We’re going to come out here. We’re going to play on the court. We’re going to try to win a championship.’ We were teammates. It’s just business, honestly. And that’s really all it was, it is, it has been. It’s just been business. It’s been basketball.”
There is obviously some lingering tension there. One recent report described another way in which the incident between Green and Poole may have negatively impacted Golden State’s season.
The Warriors are expected to keep their core of Green, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson together for at least one more season. They signed Poole to a four-year, $128 million extension prior to the season, but there have been rumblings that they could trade him. Golden State may have to choose between Poole and Green if they want to get their locker room back in order.
