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Jordan Poole Gets Very Honest About Draymond Green Punch

Jordan Poole Gets Very Honest About Draymond Green Punch

The Golden State Warriors were eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of their Western Conference playoffs showdown last week.

It was a sad ending to the season for the champs, but also fittingly messy given the chaotic way the year started for them.

Before the season even commenced, Golden State found itself in the headlines when Draymond Green punched teammate Jordan Poole.

Both men tried to move on quickly afterwards, but it was definitely something that hung like a dark cloud throughout the entirety of the Warriors’ 2022-23 NBA campaign.

When their season came to an end last week, Poole was asked about the punch once again.

“I don’t speak on it much,” Poole said in a conversation with ESPN.

“But I will say that … you’ve got to have a different level of maturity. We had a season to play. You’re going to have to play with these people in the locker room, and that’s why I said maturity is a big thing. What I know for a fact is there aren’t many people who would be able to think logically and understand the magnitude of the situation, you know?”

That said, just because Poole was able to put things aside for the greater good, doesn’t mean he and Green have mended things.

In a conversation with Logan Murdock of The Ringer, Poole gave his thoughts on his relationship with Green after the punch.

“I don’t have no answer for you,” he said.

“Other than that, we was just on the court and teammates, and we was out there trying to win games.

“What I do recall saying at the beginning of the season is that, ‘We’re coming. We’re going to come out here. We’re going to play on the court. We’re going to try to win a championship.’ We were teammates. It’s just business, honestly. And that’s really all it was, it is, it has been. It’s just been business. It’s been basketball.”

Green, for his part, has also been quite open about how his relationship with Poole has changed.

During certain stretches this past season the pair’s bad blood spilled over onto the basketball court, but for the most part both men tried to keep the ill will at bay.

It will be interesting to see how Golden State ultimately bounces back in 2023-24.

Will Green and Poole ever be able to get back on the same page after everything that has happened? Time will tell.

Related: Draymond Green Gets Brutally Honest About Lakers’ Austin Reaves

Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
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