Draymond Green Disrupts Golden State’s Good Vibes With One Punch

Green, who has spent his entire career with Golden State, has often said that he knows how to play only one way — with force, by pushing acceptable limits. That was certainly the case in June, when he tussled with various Boston Celtics in the N.B.A. finals. By the end of the series, Green was a champion for the fourth time.

At times, Green’s aggressiveness has caused issues. Most famously, he was suspended for Game 5 of the 2016 N.B.A. finals after he collected too many flagrant fouls. (The last straw was striking LeBron James in the groin.) Golden State lost that game and then the next two as the Cleveland Cavaliers came back to win their first and only championship.

In November 2018, he had a well-publicized squabble with Kevin Durant, who was then one of his teammates, that led to Green’s being suspended for a game. During a game the following March, Coach Steve Kerr was filmed in a candid moment telling one of his assistants that he was tired of Green’s antics.

Poole, a 23-year-old shooting guard, was one of Golden State’s breakout stars last season, averaging a career-best 18.5 points a game while emerging as a multidimensional scoring threat next to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Poole is in the final season of his rookie contract and is line for a huge extension.

In the video posted by TMZ, Green appears to approach Poole on one of the baselines at Wednesday’s practice before going chest-to-chest with him. Poole pushes Green, who responds by punching Poole in the face and knocking him to the ground. Several others rush in to break it up. There is no audio.

“It’s a situation that could’ve been avoided,” Curry told reporters Thursday. “But there’s a lot of trust in the fabric of our team, who we are, who we know those two guys to be and how we’ll get through it and try to continue to make it about playing great basketball.”

During his N.B.A. playing career, Kerr was involved in a notable fracas of his own. In a heated practice with the Chicago Bulls before the start of the 1995-96 season, Michael Jordan punched him in the face.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/sports/basketball/draymond-green-jordan-poole-punch-video.html