The Warriors have opted to fine, but not suspend, forward/center Draymond Green for punching teammate Jordan Poole in a practice last Wednesday, head coach Steve Kerr told reporters on Tuesday night. As Kendra Andrews of ESPN writes, Kerr also said that Green, who has been away from the team since the altercation, will rejoin the club on Thursday.
Kerr acknowledged that the Warriors may face criticism for their decision not to suspend Green, but explained that the team made the decision it felt was best after a series of internal discussions involving players, coaches, and executives.
Poole was among the players consulted during the decision-making process, meeting with Kerr and the front office multiple times, and also meeting with Green, as Andrews relays. The fourth-year guard was “willing to get back out on the floor with Draymond and go to work,” according to Kerr.
“This is the biggest crisis that we’ve had since I’ve been the coach here,” Kerr said. “It’s really serious stuff. We’re not perfect. … But we’re going to lean on the experience that we have together and trust that this is the best decision for our team. We have a lot of work to do. All of us.”
Warriors head of basketball operations Bob Myers first said last Thursday that he didn’t think Green would be suspended, but it was unclear if the club intended to stick to that plan after TMZ published video of the punch on Friday.
Green, who privately apologized to Poole and the team on Thursday, reiterated that apology publicly on Saturday, announcing at that time that he would step away from the Warriors for at least a few days and admitting that he had work to do to regain the trust of his teammates and the organization.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Kerr expressed confidence that Green will be able to mend the necessary fences, but said he’ll be keeping a close eye on how the team’s young players look at the former Defensive Player of the Year, according to Andrews. Some of those players are newcomers and don’t have a preexisting relationship with Green.
“There is no way around it: (Our) culture has been damaged by this incident,” Kerr said. “You have to work to repair that. … (Green) broke our trust, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt because I think he’s earned that.”
The expectation is that Green will play in Golden State’s preseason finale vs. Denver on Friday and will be available for the team’s regular season opener next Tuesday vs. the Lakers.
1 of the most versatile forwards in nba history, 1 of the best players in Ws history & a huge reason why this team has been as great as theyve been over the past decade. These are the main reasons Dray didnt get suspended. This is him delivering 1 of the greatest Finals gm7 performances of all time… link to m.youtube.com
Wow can the Warriors get that Green back from 6 years ago? Sure would be nice but definitely a dream. They’ll take whatever they can get defensively, and with the pics and handoffs up top to the shooters.
Thanks for the link. Good times !!
That was 6 years ago. Curry is still the same Curry 6 years after.
You’re really overstating Green’s impact. He would merely be a role player on other teams. There’s a reason why Curry is a 2 time MVP and a FMVP and Green isn’t.
If given a choice between the two, Warriors would happily get rid of Green. Curry is more important to them. Green’s latest finals performance was embarrassing.
@captain So, why didn’t they get rid of Draymond when they had the chance? Guess he is more important than you think.
Role players ARE WHAT WINS ships
Shaq and Kobe needed Fox/Horry
The whole you are a star or a scrub has gone toooo far – Let’s {try} and appreciate players of all spectrums instead of just having Goat talks all the time.
That’s a surprise. I figured they would suspend him for that last preseason game.
Very surprising to say the least. He could have easily been suspended 3-10 regular season games. Maybe this is the team’s way of taking care of Draymond since there’s so much scrutiny on the incident. You never really want to take the livelihood of one of your own or for anyone to suffer too much. At the same time, it’s a huge distraction and a dilemma and he’s definitely on thin ice. We still dont know how all this will end.
Doesn’t surprise me in the least. They only care about winning and they can’t do it without Green.
Kerr talks a big game about a lot of stuff out of his control but when he gets a chance to put his money where his mouth is, he shows his true colors.
A winning pro sports team cares about winning.
“The horror!!!
Then Kerr needs to shut up when talking about others taking accountability. Actions speak louder than words.
If I’m Jordan Poole, I play my heart out this year in hopes of signing a huge contract with another team next year.
Why?? The whole team and FO supports him over Green.
That’s definitely his mindset. He’s riding a high horse right now after his performance last year and there’s no way he wants to come off the bench as long as Curry and Thompson are with the warriors.
He wants to prove he’s his own man and that means leading another team. Can’t blame any player for that.
Honestly, I’d rather stay with the Warriors, watch Draymond depart, and poke fun at him while I lead the team to continued success in his absence. What better revenge is there for someone with Draymond’s ego?
Yeah except without Draymond your team won’t be winning anything. Not much to poke fun
@tball: Then Green will be the one poking fun.
The team talks big about culture. Especially Kerr. They seem afraid to deal with Green. He’s been allowed to cost them rings, superstars in Durant and possibly a future star in Poole. As team leader he sucker punches one of the smaller younger players and then tries to blame his victim for the act through his media cronies. Kerr the guy usually on the right side of social change sounded like a battered wife in excusing his actions and being more angry in the leaker.
GSW allowed the players to decide.
Your claim that Green cost them Durant is nonsense. Durant left because he knew GSW would never be his team, as his quotes proved.
NBA is OK2: You believe either of those statements? They’re both lies to cover the truth. Lacob doesn’t care about anything but winning so he made sure Green comes back this soon. And KD definitely left because of Green. Don’t be so obtuse and naive,
Lol. KD left because he was tired of hearing the (accurate) narrative that his joining the 73-9 Warriors to win easy rings was weak, and he certainly didn’t lie when he said this:
“But I’ll never be one of those guys,” Durant said. “I didn’t get drafted there … Steph Curry, obviously drafted there. Andre Iguodala, won the first Finals, first championship. Klay Thompson, drafted there. Draymond Green, drafted there. And the rest of the guys kind of rehabilitated their careers there.
Then why did he go? He was 2x Finals MVP. They needed him, he was the link that broke the NBA. But you’ll just believe anything that fits what you want to hear. Lol, what are you, 12?
@ jdrew:
Why did he go?Because he wanted to prove he could lead a team to a title instead of being a bus rider on Steph’s team, since (as his quotes show) he knew the Warriors would never be his team.
Obviously the 2 titles they won without him prove they didn’t need him to win championships.
How has KD done without GSW? He’s won 1 finals series, and got to game 7 in the 2nd rd – where he went 0-6 in OT to lead the Nets to a loss.
Note: I should have written “How has KD done since leaving GSW?”
Give me an f’n break. If you believe that then yikes. People are so dumb.
“Find the irony”!
Durant’s quotes are worthless. He changes his opinions every five seconds as the sensitive guy he is. I know that Green was suspended for hurting Durant’s feelings but not sucker punching a teammate
It’s amazing how many people would suggest that the Warriors sabotage themselves by doing certain things or handling certain players. They’re going to do exactly what they need to do to win a ring this year. That’s what’s in front of them.
Why shoot themselves in the foot to please outsiders. As Kerr said, “people will be critical of the team for this and that’s fair.” But try to win ring NUMBER FIVE for this core is exactly what they will do.
Warriors are just going to ride out Green’s last year. Now they have a reason for the fans not to be angry with them when he takes a max contract with another team. If Green gets hurt during the season for a big amount of games he will opt in for next year. Everyone in the NBA knows LeBron is telling Green to come to LA.
Sabotage themselves or hold themselves to a higher standard? Kerr talks a big game on social issues but if it means winning is in jeopardy, he folds in a week. I’ve lost all respect for him and next time he starts on about the social changes that I respected him for, I’ll just know that it’s a hypocrite talking and turn it off.
What does social change have to do with 2 men getting in a fight?
I’m not a Kerr fan whatsoever but that’s not fair in the slightest JD
Because he wants to right wrongs? And a pennies on the dollar fine isn’t close to righting a wrong. He had a chance to make an impression and a stand but he cowered down. All hail the mighty dollar.
The point is Kerr finds it very easy to speak on topics that are not difficult to comment on from his pulpit. Social justice ideas millions agree with but that he personally isn’t actively involved in. But when it comes to his own sphere of influence he tries to cover for the continued toxic actions of one of his players just for winning and not the betterment of the franchises culture. That’s hypocritical right there
Agreed on that. I’m fine if they’re putting winning above all else. That’s their choice. But they can’t also claim to be this morally superior team culture and organization at the same time. They’re just as scummy with this as any other team.
Golden State’s regular season finale is on Friday? Shortened season then.
Good to see Kerr showing his true colors. Preaches about social change and gun violence, but he’s cool with his players punching each other in practice because that’s always the way it’s been since he played. Following that logic then Sarver’s actions are also okay since that’s always the way it’s been making misogynistic and racial comments in the workplace.
Would they be reacting the same way with Draymond if he sucker punched Steph??? Or what if he broke his jaw or had cause another serious injury to Poole??? Does this mean that any player should be able to punch a player in the face during an actual game and only expect a week off and fine for their actions??? Good to see the NBA leadership sitting on their hands with no input on this.
Pathetic.
Except nothing in Kerr’s comments indicate that “he’s cool with his players punching each other in practice”.
Hard to believe they go this route if Kerr wasn’t on board with the punishment.
“But he’s cool with players punching each other in practice?”
Why do people make stuff up?
Sorry but actions speak louder than words. Kerr can talk about how serious they are taking this and how it’s really affected the team, but when you just fine Draymond and hold him out of 2 meaningless preseason games it speaks otherwise.
Gary: One of their players punched another player with full force and all they did was fine him and get angry about how the video leaked. It’s not a long trip to think that Kerr is 100% OK with players punching each other in practice.
@rct:
It may not be a “long trip”, but it sure is a dumb one. Kerr said a lot to indicate he’s not OK with this.
As if that isn’t damage control 101. Only a complete moron or psychopath wouldn’t say that type of stuff in the aftermath of such an incident.
And I say that as a fan of Kerr.
maddog has a lot of hate for Kerr. Gun violence took Kerr’s dad life so that why he talks about gun violence. Nothing he ever said about gun violence is different than what most Americans say themselves. It was not in Kerr’s hand on punishment but the GM and owner.
I don’t hate Kerr at all, but thanks for making that assumption. As Kerr is understandably against gun violence because of what happened to his father, you would think he would understand the seriousness of a teammate punching another teammate. Just look at the Gilbert Arenas situation that almost resulted in gun violence at the practice facility over a poker game.
Would the discussion be different if Draymond cause a serious injury that put Poole out for the season or out his career in jeopardy?
Jordan did the same thing to Kerr and he didn’t ask for a suspension of fine. If Poole was injured in the punch there would be a long suspension. It happens all the time in sports and most never make it out of the locker room. Do you have any examples of a coach kicking out a all star player because a punch at a team mate?
It is expected and pragmatic solution by GSW management, Kerr included.
Any longer suspension would hurt team’s success in games and thus is pointless, as anyhow his punch won’t be forgot nor abolished by his team mates (regardless of punishment 1week or 1year).
If you need to go back 30 years as an example, it’s not that common and standards change.
First you complain about others making assumptions about Kerr’s feelings, then you do the same to maddog. Talk about hypocrisy. Why anyone would or should take you seriously is beyond me. It would seem to be a total waste of time.
I am a GSW fan and I think he should have been suspended perhaps 5 games and miss the ring ceremony. Green needs to be held accountable and there needs to be real consequences, not only for Green to hopefully make some changes, but for the benefit young players on the Warriors. Who is standing up for the young players on the Warriors? Kerr and the whole organization talk about their culture being so strong, everyone has a strong work ethic, etc. What about accountability for your actions? I agree with the comment above that the players decided this, which likely means that the vets (Curry, etc.) decided.
What does Green have to do to get suspended by the Warriors? They are enabling him.
I hope the league steps in here. I hope TNT pulls his deal.
@ McBeers
There’s zero chance that the league will step in, or that TNT will do anything.
The players decided to move on, which actually means all the players were included, not just the vets. He got fined, that’s accountability.
Kerr said “Poole and Draymond got together and “had a great discussion that I think will help us come forward.”
“He got fined, that’s accountability.”
I literally laughed out loud reading this line.
@ Shea
What’s funny about GSW fining him for his actions? By definition of the word accountability, it’s a fact, no matter what your opinion is.
Next you’re going to tell me fining someone for murder is accountability.
And before you interject that murder is much worse than a punch to the fact, “By definition of the word accountability, it’s a fact, no matter what your opinion is.” Your words.
Lol, careful you don’t strain something with that stretch!
Imagine thinking that having your own words thrown back at you would constitute a stretch. Too funny.
You heavily implied any level of punishment, even the most minimal slap on the wrist for someone as insanely rich as Draymond, would constitute accountability. What difference does it make what the crime would be in your black and white world?
Imagine thinking that a punch in practice that caused no injury could reasonably be compared to murder. Too stupid.
FOH!
Unless it was in the millions, it’s a slap on the wrist.
I’m not sure where I stand on this because we don’t know what the fine was. If they fined him 5-10 game checks worth of money, I’d say it is accountability. If they fined him 50k, it’s not.
Draymond should have been suspended, though. It wasn’t so much a fight as it was Draymond sucker-punched Poole the way he jumped at him.
I believe 50k is the max they can fine him without suspending him.
I have seen it phrased “small” fine, so I feel like you may be correct. That’s definitely not accountability. The guy earns about $200k a game, so that’s like 1 quarter worth of pay for game 1. That’s a joke.
It’s somewhat true that the team has enabled his behavior. At the same time, Draymond is going through major life crisis right now, and literally his livelihood and career is on thin ice. Maybe the team feels they need to be there for Draymond right now. It’s still the beginning of the end for Draymond at GS.
5 games or 1M $ is fair, but not this? Really? You must be naive and never played any sport, smh. This punch to Poole (sadly) might be the best thing happen to him as he will surely play his heart out this year. Regarding Green his days are outnumbered, but we already knew that.
Thankfully it wasn’t, but it could also just as easily have turned out a Rudy Tomjanovich type incident too. I realize that’s the extreme case, but it’s no different than musing that he’ll “surely play his heart out this year” because of it.
This also wasn’t a fight. Draymond sucker-punched Poole. Maybe words were said, but that doesn’t mean Draymond gets to sucker-punch a guy.
“Major midlife crisis”…….if he can’t handle some practice insults because of a “major midlife crisis”, then he needs to step away from the team until he gets his act together.
I hope the fine is Poole getting to sucker punch Draymond in the face.
Only wusses sucker punch, We all know that coward Draymond is….doubt Poole is.
How about Jordan Poole gets to have Mike Tyson sucker punch Draymond. Does that sound more fair?
If Game 1 was on the road at LAC…
If the Warriors weren’t opening the season at home
*Playing LeBron
*On ring nite
*On TNT…
Draymond would be suspended.
(imo)
Really serious stuff? Nah not that serious then if you’re not willing to suspend him even 1 game.
My question is whatever happened to Draymond’s personal problems? Has it already been addressed and fixed?? He said that he was in hurt which caused him to assault a much younger and smaller co-worker. And WHY is his mom blaming Poole for not having his hands up and getting punched? Lol.
That whole family is trash, Screw ‘em.
“Personal” Michol, that probably means he doesn’t want someone named Michol on HR Hoops fully knowing the details
JD- Aren’t you a social change guy? Is that the language you all use? Looks like you called a guy a hypocrite here 5 lines down too
I’m not the one looking for the social change like the guy who ignored a sucker punch and got more mad at the video department. Get out of here with that.
Great point. Nothing like mom flipping the script. Shouldn’t be surprised though
I’m actually a bit floored they didn’t go the 10ish game suspension route. It’s a large enough punishment to say you held him accountable in some form while not being big enough to overly hurt their seeding (and it’s not like Draymond plays anywhere near 80 games a season these days anyway). Hard to not feel very disappointed in this outcome. I hope they hear it from the fans and on social media (or maybe folks will just move on because dog chases car).
Good for my fantasy team, though, so there’s that. And that’s what’s really important. /s
Shea, you’re right. Would have sent a message to everyone on the outside who needed to see something, yet really wouldn’t affect their season as a whole. Great point.
Not sure why they didn’t? There had to be something in house that said he doesn’t need to be suspended. Either with the incident not being all on Draymond or in talking with the players afterwards, including Poole, who probably was firm in saying Green needs to come back right away. Don’t suspend him it’s not necessary Etc.
And if that’s what the players decide why go against them just for Optics? But yes a 10 game suspension wouldn’t have hurt the Warriors really overall. Good point.
Here’s the issue with them asking Poole, at least to me: if I’m Poole, it already tells me they don’t really *want* to suspend Draymond. So it puts some pressure on him to not rock the boat.
Winning shouldn’t trump all. I think what’s really sad here though is GS is so talented, as already pointed out, they’d have been just fine without Draymond for 10 games.
Maybe Poole didn’t want him suspended.
Maybe he wants to be punched again
And if they ask me that, I’m in a tough spot as a result. Knowing that they probably don’t want to suspend him, if I say I want him suspended how does that make me look? But if I say no, he doesn’t get held accountable. Lose-lose situation for him.
Wow. Do you really enjoy carrying around that much hatred? OK. You hate the Warriors. Move on.
If Jordan Poole is fine with the punishment, why are you all complaining? Poole was the victim here. He has the most say. All other opinions are unimportant.
Is Poole really fine with it though? He may have felt pressure from the organization and veteran players who are tight with Draymond to go along with the non-punishment. We’ll see how fine he is with things when it comes time to sign a contract and with how things go this season. For all we know the Warriors told Poole that Draymond will definitely get $hitcanned after this season and Poole is being asked to take one for the team for one season.
Speculation is fun, but ultimately meaningless.
@NBAisOK: Yes, all speculation, including your non-stop posts on this forum, is ultimately meaningless.
Glad you agree ;-)
We agree that you’re a hypocrite.
@sphinxter Poole had his best game of the preseason after the announcement that Draymond was coming back. So, it doesn’t sound like it bothered him. Until he says something different, who cares.
Think it through here. I don’t know if you’re new to sports or society but just because that’s what they said doesn’t make it so. The team as the boss should’ve made the call. Not lumped it onto a young guy going into a contract year.
DayDay profoundly effed-up, but Warriors’ management has been shrewd enough to get 4 rings/6 Finals in 8 years, draft well & get some great free-agent deals, so I defer to their decisions in this matter: they’re not going to coddle Green [or alternatively, severely punish him] if such would be detrimental to this season’s success. If the players are agreeable to these actions, as a fan, that’s the end of the debate.
It was a punch in practice snowflakes calm down. Larry Bird punched people during games and didn’t even get kicked out of the game. Relax Karen’s, I know seeing a strong outspoken black man freaks y’all out but it will be ok.
Renochris, practice altercations occur ALL THE TIME in every damn sport. This one happened to be on video. Football, for example. Helmet swings or stepping on crotches after tackles. Baseball. Bean balls or cleats up. Hockey. Stick chops and trips and swings. Fist fights in all these sports. But have a video and everyone turns into, well, you said it, snowflakes. The lame analyses and presumptions are out of control with posters. We’re not on the team. We weren’t there. And none of us have any clue what its like to be this talented and at this level of competition. Good post Reno.
They happen so often that a video of one makes a huge impact? In this day and age with all the recording technology we have people can only bring up the Portis incident from 5 years ago and incidents from the 80s and 90s to prove their point. I have no doubt there’s shoving and trash talking in practices are normal but knock out punches are definitely not common. This macho posturing from people like this is normal to try and knock out teammates is crazy.
Yup. Here’s the Giants’ training camp episode in August, no suspension there either:
“Brown dragged Feliciano out of the scrum and [offensive line] coach Bobby Johnson pushed Brown. Then Feliciano punched Brown in the head.”
Yes NBA, it happens A LOT.
If you have to go back 35-40 years as an example of bad behavior, it doesn’t look good on your part. Alot of things were okay back then but we don’t do them now.
Lionel, you know we don’t do this how? Can you prove “we” dont because we do. Today. And 30 years ago. Generally, practices are closed. To media and public. That’s why the leak is an issue. You make it sound like anything and everything is subject to recording. Teams record but not everything is open to the outsiders’ view. You can’t generalize like you did. Was it a more violent attack than you’d expect or should be allowed. Yes. I absolutely agree with you. But it sounds like the team,from coaches to players and back, have agreed on a resolution that should be sufficient.
PS. Here’s a quote from Patrick Baldwin Jr who’s, what, 20 years old and was closest to the punch: “”In the moment, you kind of saw the first reaction,” Baldwin said. “I had seen stuff similar to that. But overall, as a basketball team, I think we’ve just got to take that and move forward. Really push together.” He’s seen stuff similar and he’s a month shy of 20. Sounds to me like it still happens.
This is not about not liking an outspoken Black man. Ali was outspoken – loved him. Charles Barkley is outspoken – entertained by him. You are way off. This is about -playing within the rules. Winning fairly. Attacking the other team’s best players with potentially career ending attacks is cheating. I like watching the UFC. I’m all for combative, martial arts. But even in the UFC there are rules which include no
1. Headbutting
2. Eye-gouging
3. Biting
6. Groin attacks
Draymond is working his way down this list. Everyone who isn’t a homer knows he should have been suspended for the deliberate eye gouge on Jokic in the playoffs. The NBA is weak for not suspending him. Money, ratings first – player safety second. Draymond’s hand was hook shaped, not the shape when you try to swat a ball and for a NBA player who should have good hand eye coordination he missed the ball by 3 feet. It was deliberate and egregious. Worse is the fact that he has done the same thing to LeBron James and James Harden – look it up. The Warrior organization is pathetic for enabling this BS, and anyone who tries to justify Draymond’s continued violent, beyond the rules of the game actions is also pathetic.
So you’re saying the league officials are homers for not suspending him for eye gouge jjj? And there needs to be an asterisk on their title?
So much for accountability. But you should expect it from the NBA
This about what I expected from the Warriors – a weak, enabling response. You do your thing Draymond. Kerr has been handling the situation this way for years. And why would the NBA anything? They’ve let Draymond gouge eyes, kick knees, swat across the head, knee to the balls, yell at refs all playoffs. Why would they do anything now? How could anyone not see his actions as cheating (way past the rules of the game), not to mention dangerous for the next person he decides to go off on. Play hard, but play by the rules. Anything else is cheating. Big asterix.
Translation: WAAAAAAAH!!!
I’m disappointed with Kerr. His first reaction was to go after the person who leaked the video.