Pacific Notes: Green, Poole, DeRozan, Nurkic, Finney-Smith

On By Littum

Draymond Green offered another apology over the weekend for the punch he threw earlier Warriors teammate Jordan Poole during training camp in October 2022, but he also indicated that he wants to stop talking about the incident, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

The latest apology came after Poole and it Wizards visited Golden State on Saturday. Asked about his relationship with his former team after a positive reception from the Bay Area crowd, Poole said he loves “most of those guys over there.” Green understood the message from Poole and posted “I’m really sorry” on social media.

“I answered because three years have passed,” Green said Wednesday on the podcast he co-hosts Baron Davis. “Let’s move on. We’ve moved on. I’m really sorry. That statement (by Poole) was kind of looking for some sympathy … keep making me out to be the bad guy. Move on, bro. It is what it is. I shouldn’t have hit him. Let’s move on.”

The battle marked a turning point for the Warriors, who were chasing an NBA title in 2022. They were unable to repair the team’s chemistry, and Poole was traded to Washington after the season.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • DeMar DeRozan came to Sacramento to play for Mike Brownbut Kings fired their head coach in late December. In an interview with Marc J. Spears of AndscapeDeRozan said it’s a first for him in his long NBA career. “It was the first time I’ve ever dealt with firing a coach in the middle of the season,” DeRozan said. “It’s new to a lot of the guys that played for him for years. It’s a lot different from my point of view that I’m still new to have to adjust to it. It’s hard to process when you’re still going through it .”
  • Sun coach Mike Budenholzer don’t think “benched” is the right word to use with veteran center Jusuf Nurkic (Twitter video link from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). Nurkic was removed from the starting lineup on January 6 and has not played since the following night. He is currently working his way back into game form in Phoenix after a bout with the flu. “It’s a long season” Budenholzer said. “He didn’t play a couple of games and now he’s been sick. He’s at home renovating. We’ll see how he comes through when we go back.”
  • The Lakers have relaxed their minute limit for Dorian Finney-Smithwhose playing time has been limited by an ankle problem since arriving in a trade with Brooklyn last month, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Coach JJ Redick spoke Tuesday about the difficulty of getting Finney-Smith comfortable with his new teammates. “It’s been difficult because he’s been on a minutes restriction since we got him, so just having to navigate that and try to save him, save them like four or five minutes to the end of the game, it’s been challenging.” Redick said. “We were told (on Tuesday) that we can increase his minutes from 20 to 24. So that helps, that helps.”