Draymond Green left the Golden State Warriors’ win over the Washington Wizards early due to a calf injury, but he still had something to say after the game.
Jordan Poole, who Green famously punched during a Warriors practice in October 2022, is now with the Wizards. Poole made it clear that he still cares about most of his former teammates after scoring 38 points at Chase Center on Saturday.
“Yeah, I love those guys over there. I love most of those guys over there,” Poole said after the game. “A really good group. A really good staff. Shout out to the fans. I saw a lot of 3 jerseys out there, a lot of JP3 jerseys, which is always really cool. I always get a lot of love [here]. I spent some good quality time here, and it’s dope to see it appreciated.”
After this quote was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Marc J. Spears from Andscape, Green responded, possibly addressing what he felt was some subtle criticism from Poole.
Both Green and Poole have discussed the incident multiple times since it happened more than two years ago. Recently, Green referred to it as one of the low points of his NBA career. Green spoke on the “Two Cents Podcast” with Penny Hardaway last month, sharing that he felt unprepared for the role of being a veteran leader at the time.
“I’ve always been a guy that no matter what, if someone’s younger than me, I always want to pour into them,” Green said. “And I will say I kind of got thrust into a vet role before I was ready to handle it before I knew what it took to handle it. And I failed miserably.”
He added, “One of my biggest failures as a vet was what happened with Jordan Poole. 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.”
Poole, on the other hand, has been more direct about the situation and his relationship with Green after the incident. “I don’t have no answer for you,” Poole told The Ringer’s Logan Murdock when asked about his relationship with Green after the Warriors were eliminated from the 2023 playoffs. “Other than that, we was just on the court and teammates, and we was out there trying to win games.”
Poole continued, “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.”
Since the punch, Green has had his ups and downs, including an indefinite suspension last season for multiple on-court incidents. But the 34-year-old has managed to stay out of trouble so far in the 2024-25 NBA season, which might be a sign that he is maturing in his leadership role.
With his post-game comments on Saturday night, Green seems to still feel remorse for what happened with Poole, reflecting on the regret and lessons learned from the past.
