Source: Christian Petersen / Getty
At the beginning of the year, a video of
Green sucker-punching Jordan Poole during training camp leaked online. Now he’s revealing the team never recovered from the early October event.
During an appearance on
Stephen A Smith‘s
Stephen A’s World, Green admitted that if it weren’t for the punch, the Warriors would’ve bested the
Los Angeles Lakers and been in the West Conference Finals.
“We’re not playing right now because when you speak about the fouling, when you think about all of the slippage that we had as a team on the road, not being able to come together. None of those things happen if that doesn’t happen,” Green told Smith of the aftereffects of punching the Warriors guard. “None of those things happen if that doesn’t happen, because the voice that I am and the departments that I lead this team in, there was a ton of slippage due to me sitting back, me not saying anything, me trying to allow that situation to play itself out and give it time to heal.”
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Green isn’t the only member of the Warriors organization that feels the team never recovered from the punch– head coach
Steve Kerr feels the same way.
Kerr admitted that the team had hit a ceiling with its current make-up of players, and the attack hampered its abilities.
“There’s no hiding from it — the incident with Draymond [Green] and Jordan [Poole] at the beginning of the year played a role in that,” Kerr said during his exit interview. “It’s hard for that not to impact a team.”
Despite the punch, Poole would sign a four-year, $128 million extension just days la,ter while Green agreed to spend a week away from the team for his actions.
But with the drama spilling into the postseason, the Warriors may look to move one of the players during the offseason.
See how Twitter reacted to Green admitting the punch affected the Warriors’ season.
