The 2022-23 NBA season didn’t get off to a good start for the Golden State Warriors. They made the news for all the wrong reasons when veteran leader Draymond Green sucker-punched rising star Jordan Poole during practice.
It all happened on the verge of Poole signing a lucrative contract extension, so it led to all sorts of speculation about the team potentially moving on from Green. That didn’t happen, and both eventually agreed to bury the hatchet.
But the internet and the fans never forget, and it always felt like Green owed his people an explanation. Now, months after that heated altercation, the former Defensive Player of the Year finally offered some clarity.
NBA News: Draymond Green Explains Why He Punched Jordan Poole In Practice
“There are times where you enter the basketball gym and it’s a sanctuary for a lot of us,” Green told ESPN analystStephen A. Smith. “You walk on that court and you lose yourself in the game you lose yourself and for that hour, hour and a half you lose yourself in the game. And there are times on the court where it just don’t do that. That day, that week, I was dealing with something in my life so heavy. I don’t wanna share exactly what that is, but that day I wasn’t able to lose myself in that practice. And so because I was not able to lose myself in that practice, everything that was going on in camp, I’m already on ten.”
Green quickly apologized and while Poole may never fully trust him outside of the court again, they’ve looked as good as always when they’re sharing the floor this season. Then again, those incidents are simply unacceptable, especially coming from someone who was supposed to be his mentor and veteran leader.