It’s not uncommon for teammates to end up in quarrels behind closed doors. However, laying your hands on them is taking things up several notches. News of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during Warriors training camp in 2022 shook the fabric of NBA media and since then, has been brought up quite often by fans and Poole as well.
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Gilbert Arenas feels as though Jordan’s constant, sly remarks alluding to this event may be getting a bit excessive for Draymond. So, Gil suggests that if the former DPOY is tired of apologizing, he should simply get physical with him once more.
“Draymond, if you want him to stop, all you have to do is just say, ‘If that mother***er keeps saying this and bringing this s**t up, imma punch his a** again.’”
Gil says Draymond needs to punch Poole again ☠️ pic.twitter.com/bic5pmmLON
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) January 27, 2025
Inciting violence between players on opposing teams isn’t exactly looked at as ‘great’ advice. Yet, Kenyon Martin agreed with Arenas on his take, saying, “That’ll stop it,” in regards to Poole bringing up the incident.
This comes after Poole heavily hinted towards not liking Green to this day after the Warriors game against the Wizards. Green tweeted out a simple, “I really am sorry,” underneath the report. This led to him taking to his own podcast and once more, addressing and subsequently apologizing to his former teammate.
The chances of what Arenas and Martin suggested actually happening are infinitesimally low. The two don’t seem to be on speaking terms and while one party hasn’t the buried the hatchet, it certainly does not matter at this point as they’re no longer teammates.
Draymond explains why he punched Poole
While Draymond has built up a reputation as a hot-headed character in the league, he has his own reasons for why those moments occur. Whether it’s choking out Rudy Gobert or stomping on Domantas Sabonis’s chest, he’s had a flurry of questionable moments he’s had to defend over the years.
What he did to Jordan was perhaps his most egregious action and rightfully so, has tried taken ownership over his wrongdoings. However, this didn’t come without him trying to justify the punch that was ‘heard’ around the world.
“I know I was wrong but you can’t call a man no ‘b’ word and push him and not get hit either. So, I kind of sit in both of those spaces.”
Escalating a situation to physical violence is never the answer, especially when it’s a vet trying to keep a cordial relationship with a young star on the team. But tempers flare and it sometimes takes a split-second moment like this to flip a team’s script for a season or even longer as it has with GSW.
