The Golden State Warriors figured to be coming into the 2022-23 season with great vibes as the defending champs and most of their key players back for a title defense.
That stood in stark contrast to some other hopeful West contenders that are dealing with serious clouds hanging over them. Most notably, the Suns are having to work through the Robert Sarver scandal and sale of the team, as well as Deandre Ayton’s frustration with how they handled his free agency, while the Lakers have Russell Westbrook trade rumors continuing to swirl.
However, it’s not necessarily all great in the Bay despite getting ready for ring night on October 18, as a report from Shams Charania, Marcus Thompson, and Anthony Slater of The Athletic dropped Wednesday night about a practice fight that could lead to internal discipline for Draymond Green.
When a heated interaction with guard Jordan Poole escalated, Green forcefully struck Poole and needed to be separated swiftly, sources said. Green and Poole came chest-to-chest, with both players pushing and shoving each other prior to Green’s escalation of the physical altercation, those sources said.
The report goes on to state that practice was stopped so nerves could calm down but the team believes “a line was crossed” beyond the regular arguments Green and Poole have, and that some form of discipline for Green is “imminent.” What that entails remains to be seen, but the last time Draymond got into an altercation with a teammate — the infamous bench argument with Kevin Durant that spilled over into the locker room — the team gave him a one game suspension.
We’ll see if the Warriors want to make such a statement again to Green, but a suspension from the regular season opener that will also be ring night seems like a thing the team wouldn’t want to do if they can avoid it. As for the details, we still await exact word on what happened but I’m sure Green will dive into it on a future episode of his podcast.
UPDATE: The altercation was apparently brewing over Poole’s “change in behavior” as he neared a big extension in Golden State — with Green not getting an extension himself as he gets set for a contract year.
Draymond Green was apologetic in aftermath of the altercation with Jordan Poole, but there was a buildup stemming from teammates noticing a change in Poole’s behavior throughout camp with the guard on the verge of securing a lucrative extension, league sources tell @YahooSports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 6, 2022
We still don’t have full details on what sparked things, but the young Poole getting an extension while the veteran Green goes without could certainly account for some additional tension — and if the wrong thing got said, push Green over the edge.
