The Draymond Green and Jordan Poole incident in the last year’s preseason workout made headlines around the league. Things seemed to have soured between both players after Draymond punched the young star. The scuffle between them perhaps impacted the Golden Star Warriors’ chemistry. Additionally, it seemed to have affected JP’s overall performance, with him struggling all season. Eventually, Poole was traded to the Washington Wizards by the Warriors. Green getting into a scuffle is nothing new. Previously, he was involved in a similar incident with his former teammate Nick Young during the 2017-18 season. After the video surfaced, JP’s father Anthony Poole took to Twitter and slammed the former Defensive Player for his behavior.
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During the 2017-18 season, when Kevin Durant and the Warriors were visiting LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Warriors’ players were involved in a shootaround, with Durant in the focus. However, the camera turned towards DG and Young busy in conversation. Suddenly, while Young was saying something Green lept towards his teammate with a gesture and threatened to hit him with the ball. Green also three a dew slaps. The video also suggests that it might have been a friendly scuffle.
Draymond Green opens up about the background story of Jordan Poole’s punching incident
Draymond Green was on Patrick Beverley’s podcast and spoke about the Poole incident. The video showed the snippet of Green giving the reason for the unfortunate incident. Green said that he doesn’t get aggressive with his teammates. He suggested that as a man her has certain values that are valuable to him as a player and a human being. Green said,
“I don’t just hit people. Dialogue, of course, happens over time. You usually aren’t triggered by something that fast, to that degree.”
He also added that there are things that you should not say as a man. Green’s comments might suggest that Poole might have said something that triggered Draymond to that degree. However, things took another turn when Poole’s father took to Twitter and responded to Green. Anthony Poole wrote on Twitter;
“I’m stand on this that’s is some bs. Jp was his guy and he avoid me all last yr. He is a soft a** bi*** and I’m standing on this and he didn’t apologize to me and my wife. So he lame and me and him can meet anytime he want.”
Previously, after the series loss against the Los Angeles Lakers, Green had opened up about the impact of the incident on the team chemistry. Speaking to Stephen A. Smith, Green said that had the incident not taken place, they would still be in the playoffs. Moreover, he also added that he might have also helped Poole who struggled throughout the season.
Jordan Poole gets honest about punching incident with Green
Poole was in Washington and attended the press conference. Crowded by reporters, the young star was flooded with questions regarding his trade from the Golden State Warriors. However, when Poole was asked about the punching incident between him and Draymond, he sniffed at the question and just slid it aside. He was in no mood to go back to the previous incident, as he was with the Wizards now. He said,
“We are in Washington now, playing with crew’s great duo. Being able to really flourish, expand your game and hopefully like I said it’s a new team. The entire group of guys, it’s a challenge that we are up for it.”
Completely ducking the question, Poole also added that he has a new front office and is focused on that. Moreover, he was also hopeful about the new roster for the Wizards and said that, hopefully, they can achieve something special.
