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Ohm Youngmisuk
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green has apologized for punching former teammate Jordan Poole and says it is time to move on from the incident that fractured the Warriors’ locker room more than two years ago.
Green’s latest apology came after Poole said Saturday he loves “most of those guys over there” when asked about the warm reception he received in his return to Chase Center — the Warriors’ home in San Francisco — as a member of the Washington Wizards.
Green posted a tweet in response to Poole’s comments that read, “I really am 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 really am sorry. That statement [by Poole] was kind of like it was looking for some sympathy … kind of keep on make me out to be the bad guy. Move on, bro. It is what it is.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have punched him. But it happened. Let’s move on.”
A video was leaked from a preseason practice in October 2022 in which Green and Poole exchanged words. Green walked over to Poole, who shoved Green. Green punched Poole.
Green later publicly apologized to Poole and his family. Green was fined by the Warriors and voluntarily left the team for a stretch 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 had won the NBA championship the season before. They then lost in the Western Conference semifinals during the 2023 postseason, 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 this,” Green said on the podcast. “I know I was wrong, but you can’t call a man a B-word and push him and not get hit, either. So, I kind of sit in both of those spaces sometimes. Like, the reality is, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle, right? I shouldn’t have knocked him out like that. If anything, I should have hemmed him up. It kind of was just a natural reaction.
“I think, for him, you are kind of bringing that back up on yourself. Like when you do that, you just bring up that moment back on yourself. You just got to move on and keep it pushing, man. Got to 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 striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face, ultimately missing 12 games.
During that latter suspension, Green underwent counseling and mandatory check-in 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 helped him become a “different” player and person this season. He said he had two therapists and a sports psychologist but that the check-in calls truly helped him.
This season, Green has eight technical fouls but only one ejection — as compared to four last season.
“I want people to say, ‘Man, right here was a little bleak. But then look where it went from there. And that’s due to because he took accountability,'” Green told 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 took accountability for it, and I moved forward.
“They’re my fault. I needed to be better, and I failed. We all fail. But I’m not a failure.”
Green injured his left calf at the start of Saturday’s matchup with Washington. He missed Wednesday’s game at the Sacramento Kings, and he will be reevaluated next week.