A new video shows Draymond Green violently punching his teammate Jordan Poole during the Golden State Warriors’ training camp.
Draymond Green via Golden State Warriors YouTube
Video obtained by TMZ Sports appears to show Poole jawing at Green as he walks to the sidelines. Green then slowly walks back over to Poole while a coach appears to follow him.
Green then bumps his chest into Poole. Poole responds by shoving Green away. Green then throws a superman punch at Poole. After the blow makes contact, Poole appears to crumple to the ground with Green on top of him.
It’s unclear if he was knocked unconscious or just stunned by the blow. It’s also hard to make out if Green continued to attack Poole or not as a number of other individuals crowd the two and try to break up the fight.
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Initial reports from The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes appeared to downplay the sheer violence of Green’s attack on Poole.
Charania wrote on Twitter, “There was a physical altercation at Warriors’ practice today that has the team considering disciplinary action toward Draymond Green.”
Shams Charania Twitter
He further noted, “When a chest-to-chest interaction with guard Jordan Poole escalated, Green forcefully struck Poole and both needed to be separated swiftly, sources said.”
Shams Charania Twitter
The video clearly shows that Green did a whole lot more than forcefully strike Poole. He hit him with everything he had.
Haynes’ reporting of the incident was even more misleading as he tried to put the blame on Poole. He tweeted, “Draymond Green was apologetic in aftermath of the altercation with Jordan Poole, but there was a buildup stemming from teammates noticing a change in Poole’s behavior throughout camp with the guard on the verge of securing a lucrative extension.”
Chris Haynes Twitter
He added, “Draymond Green and Jordan Poole have a history, but no players for the Golden State Warriors felt the incident was warranted. Some form of disciplinary action is expected.”
Chris Haynes Twitter
Golden State Warriors President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Bob Myers also tried to downplay the Green’s violence when he addressed the attack in a press conference.
He began by confirming the reports that it was an altercation between Green and Poole, “As reported there was an altercation. The people that were reported to be in it, that’s accurate. Everybody’s fine. Jordan practiced today. Draymond didn’t.”
He then went on to downplay what actually occurred saying, “Look, it’s the NBA, it’s professional sports, these things happen. Nobody likes it. We don’t condone it, but it happened.”
Myers continued, “Draymond apologized to the team this morning. Jordan was there in the room. I was there in the room. The team, the coaches, the players and we heard that.”
Violently attacking your teammate during practice does not happen regularly. It might happen every now and then, but it is not a regular occurrence as Myers seemingly implies.
Jordan Poole via Golden State Warriors YouTube
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Nevertheless, he then noted that they would be handling any kind of disciple internally, “As far as any suspension, punishment, fine, we are going to handle that internally. I understand you might have questions on that, but that’s going to be an internal process.”
Myers did indicate that Haynes’ claim that the confrontation had anything to do with who is getting paid was not accurate, “From my vantage point, I don’t feel and more importantly you should ask the players that you talk to, I don’t think this was related to who’s getting paid and who isn’t. I don’t sense that. Make your own conclusions. Probably more important what players think on that than what I think, but I don’t see it.”
Draymond Green via Golden State Warriors YouTube
He then went on to praise the atmosphere of training camp saying, “I’ve actually seen a really good group. I’ve really seen — for the people that went to Japan with us — actually it’s one of the best vibes that we’ve had in my 12 years here as far as camp, and health and mental health and camaraderie.”
“But it’s unfortunate and I’m not going to deny it and it will take some time to move through, but we’ll move through it and move forward. And I’m confident that we will. We’ve got a good team. We got good leadership. We’ve got some guys that have been here a long time and this isn’t our first thing that’s happened, first sense of adversity. We’ve been through this before.
Myers then bizarrely claimed that Draymond’s attack on Poole is part of the NBA and sports in general, “Don’t like going through it, but it’s a part of the NBA, and it’s part of sports and it’s kind of where it is.”
Bob Myers via Golden State Warriors YouTube
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr also addressed the attack saying, “Anytime there’s something that happens we try to handle things internally. It’s very difficult to keep everything in house, obviously, but Bob handled your questions so I’m not going to answer anything more because Bob answered what needed to be answered.”
“The only thing I will say is that Jordan has been fantastic throughout camp. There was a report that I was made aware of last night that someone put out there that Jordan had an attitude in camp. Nothing could be further from the truth. He’s been fantastic. Disappointing to see misinformation out there. But I wanted to make sure to set the record straight on that,” he said.
The Warriors’ star guard Steph Curry also addressed the altercation saying, “The personal dynamics and stuff will work themselves out. That’s part, again, of the culture that we’ve built here.”
What do you make of Green’s attack on Poole? What about the way the Warriors and numerous journalists downplayed it?