Draymond justifies Poole punch: ‘I don’t just hit people’

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green doesn’t pull any punches.

Appearing in Wednesday’s episode of the ‘The Pat Bev Podcast,’ Green said his punch at former teammate Jordan Poole during an October practice wasn’t just in the spur of the moment. The four-time champion revealed that the fracas ahead of the 2022-23 campaign resulted from previous comments made by Poole.

“I don’t just hit people,” Green said. “Dialogue happens over the course of time. You usually ain’t just triggered by something that fast to that degree. This is a team. Ain’t nobody on my team triggering me in an instant.”

However, the four-time All-Star acknowledged that he could’ve approached his issues with Poole in a better manner.

“As I’ve admitted before, I was wrong in the way I handled it,” Green said. “For the situation, where we were.”

The Warriors signed Poole to a four-year contract extension worth up to $140 million shortly after Green hit him. Green was entering the final year of his deal and didn’t receive an extension.

Following Golden State’s elimination from the playoffs in May, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that tension between the Warriors’ veteran championship core and young players never went away following the punch.

“I don’t speak on it much,” Poole said, per Shelburne. “But I will say that … you’ve got to have a different level of maturity.”

Poole’s father, Anthony, responded to Green’s comments on the podcast in a tweet, adding that Green didn’t apologize to the Poole family following the incident.

The Warriors traded Poole to the Washington Wizards in June in a deal that sent Chris Paul to Golden State.

Green reportedly agreed to a four-year, $100-million deal to re-sign with the Warriors almost immediately after free agency opened last month.

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