Addressing the media on Saturday for the first time since punching Jordan Poole in a Wednesday practice, Warriors forward/center Draymond Green said he intends to step away from the team for a few days to get his mind right and to allow the club to heal, tweets Kendra Andrews of ESPN.
Green said he’s not sure exactly how long he’ll be away from the Warriors, adding that the team still has to decide whether or not he’ll be permitted to play in the regular season opener later this month.
“I expect to play,” Green said (Twitter link via Mark Medina of NBA.com). “But will I play? That is a completely different story and something we will figure out.“
Green, who already reportedly apologized privately to Poole and his teammates for the incident, reiterated that apology publicly during his session with reporters on Saturday. According to Green, he also apologized to his own family and to Poole’s family for the embarrassment that his actions caused (Twitter links via Mark Medina of NBA.com).
Referring to himself as a “flawed human being,” Green said he was in a bad mental space on Wednesday due to some issues in his personal life, but admitted that was no excuse and said he needs to do some work on himself. He declined to offer any additional details about why he escalated the altercation with Poole, explaining that doing so would be a “sympathy tactic” (Twitter links via Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports).
Responding to rumors that his and Poole’s contract situations played a part in the altercation (both players are entering potential contract years and are extension-eligible), Green vehemently denied that, telling reporters it had “absolutely” nothing to do with contracts and insisting that he doesn’t “count other people’s pockets” (Twitter link via Medina).
According to Green, he has taken Poole under his wing since the guard arrived in Golden State in 2019 and the two teammates have had a good relationship, but he’s not sure where things stand now. While Green – who acknowledged that he’ll have to regain the trust of Poole and the rest of the Warriors – said he thinks his apology was accepted by the team, he’s unsure how Poole took it and wants to give him some space (Twitter links via Rohlin and Medina).
“Jordan’s feelings are most important. to be honest, I don’t know how he really feels,” Green said (Twitter links via Medina). “That’s not a bridge we really crossed yet, nor should it be a bridge we should cross yet.
“… I love Jordan Poole. That’s my guy. I will still ride for Jordan, still advocate for Jordan and do anything I can to make Jordan’s job easy.”
As for the fact that video of the punch surfaced two days after the practice in question, Green expressed displeasure about the leak, but conceded that he watched the video “15 times, maybe more,” and that it looks “even worse” than he thought (Twitter links via Medina and Andrews).
“What I did was wrong, regardless of the video leaking,” Green said.
Wow, maybe the first correctly-done public apology an athlete/celebrity has made in a long time. No deflecting, no blaming, putting the spotlight where it belongs, manning up and fully accepting 100% responsibility, no shirking, no “non-admittance”, no boomer-tactics at all – like all of America could learn from this.
Good to see him owning up to what happened. I just wonder if he is going to anger management classes to deal with his issues. Sounds like he decided to suspend himself instead of the team suspending him.
He clearly could benefit from some professional mental health treatment. Still, this was a good start toward getting this put in the past.
Green belongs either in jail or a mental institution. Green unprovoked according to himself, attacked his close friend, brutally. Apologies and stepping back to self reflect after seeing himself go insane on video is hardly genuine nor close to the punishment fitting the deed.
How about this,
Send Draymond to Ukraine, a country in Europe?
Just two weeks vacation
Draymond would be a good guy when he returns from Ukraine
My Best trade idea
Hawks get Draymond
Nets get Collins and a Hawks First
Warriors get Ben Simmons
Warriors are on rebuild mode
Simmons and Wiggins can carry Warriors after Curry retires
Agreed. And honestly the humility of calling one’s self “flawed” is impressively self-reflective. Did not expect this out of Green.
@DarkSide830 What a bunch of BS. This is not a first time offender! The guy has serious issues. Imagine what he is like outside the game. When the money stops rolling in the truth will come out. The Warriors organization is trying to protect an investment by enabling his behaviour. There is no excuse for this kind of pathetic acceptance from Warriors fans. Dirty Draymond should have been suspended multiple times in last years playoffs the way he went after the star players on other teams – eye gouging, knee kicks, deliberate tackles -it’s crazy just typing it out to think that he did all that and wasn’t suspended. Warriors have a big asterix beside last year’s win. The question is what is he going to next if his fake apology works this time.
Do you like Hockey?
Americans needs to learn a lot; like how to stop throwing hamburgers down their gullet like they’re going out of style, or that America isn’t the only nor the strongest country in the world.
But yeah, the apology stuff too, lol.
Are you serious? Had the video not come out none of this would have been said
I didn’t hear him speak but from what I read here I needed more from Draymond Green. A lot more.
That being said, I would hope that Jordan Poole would take some of the Heat from this incident, whether it’s deserved or not, but it was sure help the overall Vibe for the team if he did. It would be a super selfless act to take some blame and definitely help put this thing in the rear view mirror.
Again, I wish Draymond went a little deeper in his statement and took the stance of some necessary anger management counseling etc. Maybe he will in the next few days. Doing “work on himself” and “being away from the team for a few days” isn’t quite enough for me.
gary…I think thats all he owes in public. he’s owning his mistakes big time. theres more work to be done for sure, but not in public. this is good enough for me.
This incident was pretty massive. I think the goal would have been to do everything to put it in the rear view mirror but Green did not do enough for that. This will be brought up again and again, whereas full-fledged I need help, classes, counseling Etc could have squashed this.
Larry you have a good point but he’s apologized before for this and for that. He clocked somebody in practice and I need more than “an apology” or “owning up.”
I understand your point
GMan…. was he owning up or merely performing a con job?
Was “in a bad space mentally” that day? No s**t ???
We would’ve never guessed that!
I’m still embarrassed that something like that would happen at a basketball practice – at ANY level.
It’s a practice punch?? When did sports fans become so soft. This generation I swear!
So does this mean no suspension coming, since he’s suspending himself for a few days? 10 more days till opening night the 18th, is that enough of a self-imposed suspension to satisfy the warriors?
And since this was a practice I’m not sure about what the people are saying the NBA getting involved. This is absolutely an in-house thing. 100% on the Warriors to decide how to handle it.
It’s handled, Steve Kerr told me. Go about your business.
I suspect the Warriors strongly encouraged Draymond to essentially suspend himself when they saw and heard the fan reaction to the video. Warriors management has built a co-dependent relationship with Draymond and are unwilling and/or unable to get out of it.
Would you rather see them throw Green under the bus. Every NBA team would do the same with their star players. Watch when he is a free agent and all the teams comes after him they will not care what happened in the past.
@arc: They have enabled and coddled Draymond dating back to years ago when he went after Kerr in the locker room at half time of a playoff game and he was let off. It’s like dealing with a child (if you are a parent you would understand this), if you let a child get away with behaving badly you get continuous bad behavior. The Warriors created this relationship where they have convinced themselves they can not succeed without Draymond and he has taken advantage of it.
I think you greatly overestimate how much
interest there would be in Draymond. There will be some interest, but not a lot and not at the salary he wants.
No other team’s star players do the vicious violent attacks that Draymond does. There is deliberate attempt to injure and he’s been doing it for years. The league ignores the issue because of money, because Steph and Klay sell and there is a sense that they need a dirty, cheater on the floor to create space for them. This is going to come back at the league. Decision makers are complicit with his actions – dirty, violent attacks, that are in no way within the rules of the game. Why was he not suspended after the eye gouging, rake across Jokic’s eyes. It was a deliberate attack, on the MVP of the league no less. The league ignored it even though various replay angles showed his deliberate actions. Pathetic, and the worse is yet to come from him. I don’t think other teams would want him on the roster – he’s old, can’t shoot, so all he has going for him is intimidation.
I remember seeing payton2 getting knocked in the head last year and breaking his arm. I also seen Curry get flip on the ground and broke his hand. I saw McCaw a few years ago get taken out by Vince Carter on a chip play. Saw LeBron walking on a player on purpose. I saw Chris Paul get hit in the face in the playoffs. I can go on and on…
These are plays and fouls or actions by different players, and except for GP2 they are all weak examples. Draymond was committing suspendable actions every playoff game last year but never got suspended once. Even Jokic, MVP of the league was suspended when he pushed Morris in the back. Jokic gets raked across the eyes to the point he could barely see and Draymond gets nothing. He did the same thing to LeBron the year prior when the Lakers beat the Warriors forcing them to play the Grizzlies. LeBron played through but Draymond should have been suspended then as well. There are dozens of examples from this one trash player.
He only came out and “apologized” because of the video leak. This is all about his next contract. If we didn’t all see the video, the warriors and Draymond would have done nothing and hoped it would all go away. Same thing the NFL did with the Ray Rice situation. Tried to downplay the seriousness of the situation until video surfaced.
He had already apologized before the video came out.
Right…..he apologized to the team according to the GM on Thursday. But he comes out and “sincerely” apologizes publicly today a day after the video was released. Again this is just damage control for his next contract.
He put out a generic statement, most likely written by his attorney, agent the team or A’s fan in the uk.
BS. It was a 40 minute news conference, not a “generic statement”.
It was a 40 minutes news conference today. The video came out yesterday. This is all about damage control and his next contract.
Thank you mad dog for clarifying.
@ maddog
Which obviously has nothing whatsoever to do with the 100% false claim that Green “put out a generic statement”.
Draymond knows he’s done getting 100 million dollar contracts from the Warriors. Some other team like the Kings will give him that ridiculous contract
Both Green and Poole will be gone next summer. Warriors won’t match Poole’s massive overpay and the Green will get his 3 years elsewhere. Hope Wiggins takes a Hometown discount because he’s the happiest he’s ever been.
@ Gary
I’m hoping you’ll be eating crow by the 18th after GSW extends Poole.
Oh yeah I forgot about that. I think he wants his money. And I don’t think the Warriors give him Tyler Hero money. But we shall see. He’s a great player, nothing wrong with keeping him.
Draymond + Moody + 1st for Sabonis + Mitchell
Dray for Sabonis probably good enough. Moody is the best player in that group.
Putting a MSU player and a Michigan player together spells trouble!
Steve Kerr doing his best to help this thing get buried.
Kerr: “In 32 years, I’ve probably seen about 20-plus fist fights in practice.”
Steve is a musician at playing the media, kudos, it’s unfortunately a necessary art form today and GSW is writing the playbook currently on “How to”
Saying all that, I’m betting he has seen 20 fights in his day. We seem to make everything bigger than it needs to be today (look at Michol above talking about legacy *cringe )
It was a beef that went too far and got physical, take out the era of hysterical internet Kens and Karens and the video and this was just Tuesday for Kerr in his Bulls days; which I think is what is at the heart of his “20” comment
Buried it should be tho, and will be by about the 3rd day of the regular season
Steve Kerr has always been enabler number one for Dirty Draymond. This will be part of his legacy and identity as well. Do whatever dirty play to impact the other team’s star players – knee him in the nuts, kick out his knee, gouge his eyes. This winning at any cost is part of the Warrior organization’s identity. I have lost all respect for Steve Kerr.
oh no! he’s lost your respect?
What I mean by that is that Steve Kerr was an undersized 3 point shooter and when called upon by Michael and his Bulls’ teammates he played his part and contributed and played hard and he played fair. There are rules in basketball and there are unwritten rules which include winning without deliberately trying to injure the other team’s best players. Steve Kerr knows it is happening and then says things “it happens all the time”. He justifies Draymond’s actions. What he doesn’t seem to care about is that he’s hurting the organization and the league. Skill, talent, hard work and fair play matter the most, not punching a teammate that you just won a championship with in the face, a player 40lbs lighter that you, just to intimidate him into playing his role. No Steve Kerr there was no justification, regardless of how many times you think you’ve seen it before.
Nah Jimmy, they’re legacy will be be being a part of a dynasty
You know who all the All time greats from the 80’s and 90’s said was the most dirty player they ever played against ??…….. The guy we all think of as a goody goody do no wrong church boy…Mr John Stockton. Id be careful with the labels today
When all the dust settles Draymond and the Warriors will have nothing but good things said about them said in 20 years
If keep Draymond,
Sign Poole to an extension, then trade Poole after January 15 by nba rules
Compare to Durant asking price
no deal or overpaid offer
@Sillivan
No matter how many times you suggest that the defending champions trade a key player, it’s not going to happen. They are trying to repeat, and any trade of their rotation would make it less likely to happen.
NBA OK exactly right.
silli boy..why offer an extension if your plan is to trade him?
“DirtyDre” ……. smacking the truth out of “PollutedPoole” ……
Was a well-done apology and he seemed sincere. Still think he needs to be suspended.
NFL players don’t get suspended when they fight in practice
comparing a helmet sport with basketball = author likely has CTE from said helmet sport
Hockey players beat the each other bloody no suspension
Fighting is also an accepted part of the sport. It is not in basketball. This is a dumb comparison.
Agreed, there’s shoving, and then there’s that. That is a clear violation, way over the line. Gotta punish him by making miss regular season games that will ultimately be meaningless this year as GSW is winning 65+ with ease as long as they get full health from like 6 or 7 guys.
Draymond could have ruined Poole’s career. :(
Yes, Draymond is doing all he can to own up, make things better for everyone, and fix his image. It will take awhile for him to win back respect of his teammates. It’s a very serious dilemma and distraction for Warriors. There is a very good chance W’s could decide to move on from Green sooner than later. At best, he will be suspended 10 games by nba or team.
Are you a hockey fan?
There is no comparison here to hockey. If a player cheap shots or worse deliberately tries to injure a team’s star player in a hockey game they better be prepared to fight. Because of the physicality of hockey players have to referee their own conduct. In the NBA the starting five players can’t afford to get suspended, even for a game, so a dirty, violent player can attack players and get away with it. It’s up to the league to review and suspend and in last year’s playoffs they totally ignored everything he did. Now he’s emboldened so the league is responsible for what happened this week. Also the Warrior’s coaching staff and organization, but most people watching the game have known for years how they enable Steph and Draymond’s pathetic behaviour.
NFL teams fight each other in preseason practices all the time. Where is the outrage!!!!!
If a lineman went after Lamar Jackson in a preseason practice and hit him as hard as possible in the face and it was recorded, and shown to the world you can bet that player would be suspended for a season, or longer depending on the severity. Draymond is a repeat offender who got away with violent attack, after violent attack in last year’s post season, just a few months ago. He needs to be sent a message and serious time away from the game to get help.
What is wrong with Curry’s ‘pathetic’ bevior? Jeez
I know when your a fan of a team you overlook things, but Steph is cocky, arrogant. From turning his back on shots, to his lame shimmy, to his towel on the head on the bench I’m not going to watch or cheer on teammates, to his defensive attitude – letting players just run past him while he tries to hand check them. He’s a goal suck – that’s a hockey term for a player that leaves the defence to teammates while he tries to score to get the limelight.
Are you capable of another thought?
10 games for a practice punch. Should the league get participation trophies too? This generation is so soft
RenoChris you would die if Draymond punched you like that, you coward
At least, there are much less comments justifying Draymond’s punch or blaming Poole. It was totally disgusting unacceptable behavior. It’s really a legacy ruining moment for Dray and he’s going to work hard to win back his fans. For sure, he will be taking major financial hit from this disaster on and off the court.
DirtyDre …….
OK ….. we all know who Dre is. He kicked Bron in the groin. When his team was about to win it. His emotions will get the best of him. But if you think he went after Poole. Cause of on court stuff. Then you heed a lesson.
Dre us a little bbbb. He wont go after someone who will make him see the light. He’s a bully and picks fights he can win. He’s a sorry littleBbbb. I hope one day he picks a real MF. So we can have some respect for him………. DirtyDre
The fact is that Dray never kicked Lebron in the groin.
Smh
Gaslight often? Trying to create a new version of reality. There are compilation videos of Draymond attacking star players including LeBron – knees, kicks, swats across the head. LeBron never lowered himself to Draymond’s level even though everyone knows could have put him in his place, but then he would have been suspended and would have hurt his team. So he did what he had control over and beat the pathetic Warriors with his talent. The Warriors have had to rely on free agents to get back on top since then. They wouldn’t have won last year without Wiggins.
Lol, my stating the fact that Green never kicked Lebron in the groin isn’t gaslighting.
Jimmy has lost his mind and is doing nothing but lying and trolling because his coward fave team got stomped by STEPH CURRYS WARRIORS!!!
Another mind destroyed by the true GOAT 30!
Steph Curry is a one way player. His defence is weak. Any player in the NBA can score on him. Any player, even the players with limited minutes. Hardly makes him the GOAT. Better than MJ? You’re crazy. Seriously go watch “The Last Dance” to see what a crazy competitor MJ was…no one comes close, especially not Steph Curry, who is inconsistent, misses a lot of shots, and can’t play defence, oh and he pouts on the bench like a little kid when things don’t go his way. GOAT…that’s funny.
@Jimmy What? LeBron never “lowered himself” to Draymond’s level? Maybe only if you mean literally because he intentionally stepped over him to disrespect him, and that was a dirty, low down, gross move to put your genitals in someone’s face while stepping over them and one of dozens of tactics teams have used to get in Draymond’s head and incite him to get techs so he will get suspended. It is a well known tactic that he fell for a lot, unfortunately. LeBron is no saint.
Was he naked at the time when he stepped over him? Stepping over a player is equivalent to going after Tatum’s shoulder, or raking players eyes? C’mon man. Lame.
@jimmy What a troll you are. Wiggins wasn’t a Free Agent signing. Why do you guys like to make stuff up.
I’m not a troll. I’m making valid points. If you don’t like them respond with a good argument, not some homer mentality that there is nothing wrong with Draymond.
Sure Wiggins was traded…my point being is that he was added to the team and was the player that made the difference when it mattered. Steph was inconsistent as usual.
@ StephhaterJames
It’s hilarious to see your hate blinding you. Please compare Steph’s playoff numbers to Wiggins.
Oh please there is a bunch of shady plays LeBron has done over the years. Even hit himself and wanted a T trying to blame the player next to him. Go to youtube there are many dirty plays by LeBron like on Embiid, Isaih Stewart, Pascal Siakam, even trip Curry on purpose to hurt his ankle.
You’re comments are nonsense. LeBron has talent and basketball IQ. He doesn’t need to play like Draymond to win. No comparison. If you think there is then you are living in an echo chamber.
He’d beat you up internet tough guy
What Jokic did to Morris last year was 10 times worse
Pushing a known tough guy in the league from behind really hard is a far cry from slugging your homie in the face with his hands down and standing over him in a victory stance crisis.
Blind side to the back by a 270 pound man is way more dangerous and reckless than what Draymond did. He could have broke his neck. But if it’s white it’s alright I guess
10 times worse than sucker punching someone? Are you out of your mind?
Yeah Jokic could have broke his neck. When you’re face to face with someone and swing on them after they forcefully push you is not a sucker punch. A sucker punch is when you don’t see it coming.
Jokic got suspended. It was also out of character. Draymond Green steps over the line and disrespects opponents, teammates, and referees all the time and the league has largely ignored it. Big difference.
If Lebron punched someone you’d all be praising his leadership
No we wouldn’t, and he wouldn’t because he had much better character. Draymond is a dirty, violent fool, and the Warriors organization is complicit with his actions, and it will be part of their legacy – a team that needs to cheap shot opponents star players in order to win.
They win because they are better than the other team. Bitter much.
Real issue is the eroding of ethic in the Warriors
Case in point videographer broke association code and whistle blew for money, cashed in on video
Did you know that there are fistfights and dust ups every year?? It’s an internal/back of house issue that got sold to the media
This is the Main issue while y’all talk who is good/bad/ugly …
Not like this one though. No one threw a punch like that before. If it was both of them shoving each other then you would have a stronger argument.
Don’t watch hockey, I wouldn’t want your sensibilities offended
Hardly anyone on here watches hockey FFS
You’re on hoops rumors. Who tf likes hockey? Lmao you like soccer to
If he hadn’t punched him there’d be no video to leak
Better now than later for Dubs, Dray needs a 10 games suspension for cleaning this mess.
GSW FO & NBA execs should work on a possible one year suspension warning for being sure that Dray will not happen again…
Draymond punches own teammate.
He and team staff agree, he’s in mid-season form, go ahead and take the rest of preseason off.
Guys a friggin idiot . Trade him and sign Kenneth Faried