From the moment the video of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during a Warriors preseason practice was leaked, one thing became clear: Green won, and Poole lost.
Green won the physical confrontation with a knockout punch to his teammate. Green won when he avoided a team suspension for his assault that would have interfered with Golden State’s ring ceremony. Green won when the Warriors traded away Poole to basketball purgatory in Washington for a cost-saving, win-now player in Chris Paul. Most recently, Green won a shiny new $100 million contract.
Compare that nine-month run to Poole’s. His emotions were hyper-analyzed all season. He put up horrendous postseason performances, which led to many calling his salary into question seemingly every day. He also dealt with anonymous criticism from rival executives, and post-trade reports about how the Dubs’ stars were sick of him — and that’s all after his own team left him out to dry after a teammate slugged him.
Green won, and Poole lost; there’s no question about it. What’s not clear is why that’s not good enough for Green, who is acting like a sore winner right now.
The 33-year-old forward recently rehashed the infamous punch on (where else?) a podcast and took the time to defend his actions on a matter that was settled well in his favor nearly a year ago.
“I don’t just hit people,” Green said. “Dialogue of course happens over time. And you usually ain’t just triggered by something like, that fast, to that degree. … This is a team. Ain’t nobody on my team triggering me in an instant. We know stuff that you don’t say amongst men. … We know things that you have to stand on.”
Again: The Warriors’ brass, coaches, teammates and fans chose Green over Poole. Why throw dirt on his name? Green is famously bombastic and says what’s on his mind, but this isn’t a rival to play mind games with. Green is talking about a former teammate who, after experiencing one of the highest highs in the sport, has dealt with a stretch of some tough lows and was just straight up exiled from the team who drafted him. Coming out of a rocky year unscathed isn’t enough; Green needed to take a victory lap. Maybe he’ll do his next podcast appearance with a championship belt to celebrate his fighting prowess.
And not for nothing: Green’s defense of The Punch stinks. If he’s going to keep doing this, he needs to just say what exactly happened “amongst men” and stop being cute about it. It almost seems like he’s trying to bait Poole into telling his side of the story, as the young guard has been almost absurdly patient about the whole thing.
Perhaps the forward understands that what Poole said didn’t necessarily warrant a knockout punch, and such a reveal would make Green look bad — like if he claimed he “ain’t just triggered by something like, that fast” and then immediately posted an aggressive reply to a made-up quote online. The 33-year-old might claim he never cares what people say about him, but he definitely knows how the PR war works, especially since he just won one.
Everything the Warriors have said and done since The Punch has enabled Green. The Dubs are supposed to be a top-notch intelligent organization that creates a winning culture and contends for championships every single year. Protecting a core member of a championship dynasty is one thing, but allowing him to think he’s actually the victim for assaulting his teammate is another. Every step they’ve taken this summer, though, has given Draymond the Green light. How could they stop now?