Green comments on the latest apology from Poole and wants him to move on

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green has apologized for punching former teammate Jordan Poole and says it’s time to move on from the incident that shattered the Warriors’ locker room more than two years ago.

Green’s latest apology came after Poole said on Saturday that he loves “most of those guys over there” when asked about the warm reception he received when he returned to the Chase Center – the Warriors’ home in San Francisco – as a member of the Washington Wizards.

Green sent a tweet in response to Poole’s comments that read: “I’m really sorry.”

“I answered because it’s been three years,” Green said Wednesday on “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis.” “Let’s like, let’s move on. We’ve moved on. I’m really sorry. That statement (by Poole) was kind of like looking for some sympathy… keep making me out to be the bad guy dude go ahead bro it is what it is.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have hit him. But it happened. Let’s move on.”

A video was leaked from a preseason practice in October 2022 in which Green and Poole exchanged words. Green went to Poole, who pushed Green. Green beat Poole.

Green later publicly apologized to Poole and his family. Green was fined by the Warriors and voluntarily left the team for a while, but did not miss any games or face any discipline from the league.

The fight took place during the team’s camp after the Warriors had won the NBA championship the season before. They then lost in the Western Conference semifinals in the 2023 postseason, and Poole was traded to Washington in a deal for Chris Paul in June of that year.

“I kind of go back and forth on this,” Green said on the podcast. “I know I was wrong, but you can’t call a man the B-word and push him and not get hit. So I kind of sit in both of those spaces sometimes. The reality is the answer is. is enough somewhere in the middle, well, I shouldn’t have knocked him out like that.

“I think for him, you kind of bring it on yourself. Like when you do that, you just bring that moment on yourself. You’ve just got to keep pushing, man. Gotta let it go.”

Last season, Green was suspended for five games for choking Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, then was suspended indefinitely for punching Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face, ultimately missing 12 games.

During the latter suspension, Green underwent counseling and mandatory Zoom calls checking in with executives from the NBA, the Warriors, the players’ union and his agent to return to the game. Green told ESPN it helped him become a “different” player and person this season. He said he had two therapists and a sports psychologist, but the check-in calls really helped him.

This season, Green has eight technical fouls but only one sending off – compared to four last season.

“I want people to say, ‘Man, right here was kind of bleak. But look where it went from there. And it’s because he took responsibility,'” Green told ESPN. “No matter how I felt about the Rudy situation, the Nurkic situation … the Jordan Poole (incident), any situation, I took it on the chin. I took responsibility for it and I moved forward.

“They’re my fault. I needed to be better and I failed. We all fail. But I’m not a failure.”

Green injured his left calf at the start of Saturday’s matchup with Washington. He missed Wednesday’s game at the Sacramento Kings and will be reevaluated next week.