“Must Have Been Building Up”: Draymond Green Didn’t Punch Jordan Poole in the Spur of the Moment, Claims Former Warriors Star

Draymond Green’s anger issues have been a major stain on what is otherwise a Hall of Fame career. A ban in game 5 of the infamous 2016 Finals, a stomp on Domantas Sabonis’ chest, and last season’s incidents with Rudy Gobert and Jusuf Nurkic all are perfect examples of this. But no incident has caused more harm to his reputation around the league than when he punched Jordan Poole in the Warriors’ training facility.

This punch has landed Draymond in the headlines again, as he publicly tweeted an apology to Jordan Poole after the Warriors’ matchup with the Wizards. The crew over at Gil’s Arena discussed his tweet and his infamous punch in detail. Nick Young, who shared a locker room with Green, insinuated that he doesn’t think the altercation between Green and Poole was as one-sided as it was reported to be.

“I don’t think he really meant to sock him like that. I think Jordan Poole must’ve had did.. Must have been building up. Cos I seen Draymond give people warnings. So it must have been building up.”

As someone with a fiery temper himself, Young claimed Green was a reasonable person, and if anyone did cross lines with him, he’d give them a warning. To punch Poole in the manner he did, according to Young, was uncharacteristic of the former DPOY.

Speaking of things uncharacteristic of Draymond Green, his recent apology tweet takes the cake. After Poole said he loved most of the guys at GSW, Green replied to Marc Spears’ tweet, saying, “I really am sorry.”

I really am sorry

— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) January 19, 2025

Green’s therapy sessions after the Nurkic incident last year have seen a change in behavior from him, and he even spoke to Penny Hardaway about how the incident changed him. He said,

“It took me to go through that failure with Jordan Poole, who was someone that came in and chose his locker to be next to me because he wanted to learn from me. [He] was someone that I would spend time with and that I would pour into, and I [f–ked] it all up.”

Green called the infamous punch “one of my biggest failures as a vet.” As a result of that off-season incident, Poole was traded to the Wizards in July 2023.