SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green apologized for hitting former teammate Jordan Poole and said it was time to move on from the incident that fractured the team’s locker room. Warriors over two years ago.
Green’s latest apology came after Poole said Saturday he liked “most of those guys over there” when asked about the warm welcome he received upon his return to the Chase Center – the home of the Warriors in San Francisco – as a member of the Washington Wizards. .
Green posted a tweet in response to Poole’s comments that said, “I’m so sorry.”
“I responded because it’s been three years,” Green said Wednesday on “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis.” “Like, let’s move on. We’ve moved on. I’m so sorry. That statement (from Poole) was kind of like she was looking for sympathy…kind of keep making me out to be the bad guy. Carry on, bro .That’s how it is.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit him. But it happened. Let’s move on.”
A video was leaked during a preseason practice in October 2022 during which Green and Poole exchanged words. Green headed toward Poole, who pushed Green. Green hit Poole.
Green later publicly apologized to Poole and his family. Green was fined by the Warriors and voluntarily left the team for a time, but did not miss any games or face any discipline from the league.
The punch took place during the team’s camp after the Warriors won the NBA championship the previous season. They then lost in the Western Conference semifinals in the 2023 playoffs, and Poole was traded to Washington in a deal for Chris Paul in June of that year.
“I kind of go back and forth with it,” Green said on the podcast. “I know I was wrong, but you also can’t call a man a B word and push him without getting punched. So I sit in both of those spaces sometimes. The reality is the answer is is probably somewhere in the middle, right? I shouldn’t have knocked him out like that, I should have locked him up instead. It was just a natural reaction.
“I think, for him, you bring that back on yourself. When you do that, you just bring that moment back onto yourself. You just got to move on and keep pushing, man. I gotta let it go .”
Last season, Green was suspended for five games for putting Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in a chokehold, then was suspended indefinitely for punching Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face, ultimately missing 12 games.
During this latest suspension, Green underwent counseling and mandatory Zoom calls with executives from the NBA, the Warriors, the players’ union and his agent in order to return to play. Green told ESPN that it helped him become a “different” player and person this season. He said he’s had two therapists and a sports psychologist, but the check-in calls really helped him.
This season, Green has committed eight technical fouls but only one expulsion, compared to four last season.
“I want people to say, ‘Man, it was a little dark here. But look where it went from there. And that’s because he took responsibility,'” said Green to ESPN. “Regardless of how I felt about the Rudy situation, the Nurkic situation… the Jordan Poole incident, any situation, I took it on the chin. I have took responsibility and moved forward.
“It’s my fault. I needed to be better and I failed. We all fail. But I’m not a failure.”
Green injured his left calf early in Saturday’s game against Washington. He missed Wednesday’s game against the Sacramento Kings and will be re-evaluated next week.