The start of the 2022-23 NBA season was complicated for the Golden State Warriors. Despite being reigning champions, things got heated in the locker room when Draymond Green punched Jordan Poole.
There were countless reports of Poole crossing the line multiple times, and Green failed as a leader by not being able to hold his composure. That spiraled into the season, and the rest is history.
Ironically, Green once praised the now-Washington Wizards star for his trash-talking, stating that some Warriors veterans didn’t like all the talking he did as a rookie.
Draymond Green Once Praised Jordan Poole’s Trash-Talking
“Man, he don’t stop talking,” Green said in 2019. “He does not stop, which is funny to me. So, I see people get p***ed off in practice. Like, ‘Oh man, he a rookie.’ I’ve heard a few people say, ‘He a rookie. He never shut up.’ And I just be sitting there like, ‘Good job young fella, you got ‘em mad.’”
“I remember being that rookie that wouldn’t shut up and everybody hated it,” he continued. “So, doing something right, young fella. Keep going. I just walk away smiling. It’s great.”
Also ironically, Poole talked trash at a time when he was statistically one of the worst players in the league, so you can only imagine how things turned when he actually started balling.