Draymond Green says video of him punching Warriors teammate was released to portray him in negative light

On Oct. 5, two Golden State Warriors teammates got into a scuffle that made national headlines and forever changed their relationship.

After exchanging words, Draymond Green got in Jordan Poole’s face, leading to Poole shoving Green. That prompted Green to punch Poole in fact, and the two were tangled up before it was broken up.

No one realized how bad the incident was until the video leaked – much to the dismay of everyone involved.

But perhaps nobody was more upset with its release than Green himself.

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Jordan Poole #3 of the Golden State Warriors high-fives Draymond Green #23 during the game against the Toronto Raptors on December 18, 2022, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
(Vaughn Ridley/NBAE via Getty Images)

Green says that the leaking of the video was “100 percent calculated” to portray him negatively.

“As someone who is involved in the incident, I totally forgot in watching the video everything that went on. Because in the video, you watch and audio-less video, you watch a three-second clip of me walking up, and I swing. That’s what you see. That video was put out there like that to portray me the exact way it did,” Green said in a recent interview with Bleacher Report. “Does that mean that I was not wrong in what I did? No, that does not mean that. 100 percent was the wrong reaction. But in everything, there is also a full story. I don’t care to share my story. One day I will… 

“But what I figured out in watching that video all day is like, damn, this actually was what this was meant to do,” he continued. “This was meant to form an opinion about me, and not give another side to it. Like, not even allow another opinion to be formed, This video was put out just like this. No audio. If we got this video, we got the whole practice, right? We got everything, right? All you see is five seconds. And so what I had to do is, number one, because once that released, I’m experiencing so many emotions. Like, I’m upset. How the hell does this get released? I’m, like, going through hell because you’re just at the sole discretion of public opinion.”

The fight came less than three months after the Warriors won their fourth NBA title in the last seven years – they’ve been unable to get past the championship hangover with a 20-21 record at the midway point of the season.

But Green doesn’t think the fight is necessarily to blame, as the two continue to work on their relationship – although he admitted would never be the same.

Jordan Poole #3 and Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors celebrate against the Boston Celtics during the fourth quarter in Game Six of the 2022 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 16, 2022, in Boston, Massachusetts. 
(Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

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“We go to work every day together,” he later said. “Our lockers are right next to each other, that never changed. We ride the same buses together, we change in the same locker room on the road together — none of that has changed. Did it change our relationship, of course. Absolutely. That’s still a work in progress. I’ll always be willing to continue to do that work because I was wrong. Definitely allow it to move forward, and we have moved forward, and it’s just fine. But is it different? 100 percent. Not that I expected it to be the same…

“I see improvements, day by day, week by week, month by month I see improvements. That’s all you can ask for. I don’t expect him to come out and be like, ‘Man, I wanna come hang with you off the court.’ I don’t expect that. I’m not a fool… It’s kind of what I expected it to be. But it’d a constant work in progress to the makeup of our team, to the success of our team. I continue to do the work.”

Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole (3) is congratulated by forward Draymond Green after scoring against the Denver Nuggets during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. 
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

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The Warriors have lost three straight after winning their previous five. Stephen Curry has missed 11 games with a shoulder injury.

Golden State begins a five-game road trip on Friday after wrapping up an eight-game home stand. Before that, they were on the road for six straight.