NBA players are expressing their own opinions about the now-viral video that shows Warriors forward Draymond Green throwing a punch at teammate Jordan Poole during Wednesday’s practice.
“There is no way you can get back to being teammates after a punch like that,” Knicks guard Evan Fournier tweeted.
When someone asked if he’s “ever see something like that in practice,” Fournier responded, “Not that bad no.”
Hawks point guard Trae Young tweeted, “Draymond is tryna get to LA. Damn!” seemingly referring to Green teaming up with his friend LeBron James on the Lakers.
Shannon Sharpe of FS1’s “Undisputed” said it was a “wrong” by Green to punch Poole — adding that if it were him instead of Poole in the scuffle, he and Green would be “fighting everyday.”
On Friday, TMZ published footage that showed Green punching Poole at Wednesday’s practice. The footage appears to show the two having words before Green approached Poole on the court.
The guard then shoves the forward before Green throws a punch that appeared to connect with Poole’s face, knocking him against the wall. Other players and personnel then rushed to the scene to deescalate the situation.
Poole wasn’t hurt by the strike and finished his workout before leaving the practice floor, ESPN reported.
Green sat out Thursday, while Poole practiced. Warriors GM Bob Myers said that Green apologized to the team on Thursday and any punishment would be handled internally.
“These things happen. Nobody likes it, we don’t condone it, but it happens,” Myers said. “Draymond apologized to the team. Jordan was there in the room. … As far as any suspension, punishment, fine, we will handle that internally.”
Star point guard Steph Curry addressed the situation and called “BS” on a report by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that said teammates noticed a change in Poole’s behavior throughout training camp.
“There was a specific tweet that was put out yesterday insinuating that [Poole’s] attitude or something has changed … it’s absolute BS,” Curry told reporters. “Andre [Iguodala] addressed it yesterday with his tweet, and we can kind of leave it at that.
“[Poole] has been great, there’s nothing that warranted the situation yesterday, to make that clear. But it’s also something that, I feel like, will not derail our season and what we’re trying to do.”
Curry added that the situation between Green and Poole should not have happened.
“It’s a situation that could have been avoided,” Curry said, per 95.7 The Game. “But there’s a lot of trust in the fabric of our team and who we know those two guys to be.”
On Thursday, Iguodala took to Twitter to defend both Green and Poole.
“What we not gone do is talk crazy about my young fella JP… great character kid… miss me with all that other bs… straight from the ‘SOURCE,’” Iguodala tweeted.
In a separate tweet, Iguodala wrote, “And it’s family business with my bro @Money23Green too…”
Green and Poole have yet to address the situation publicly. Both are up for contract extensions.
