SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green was fined and is slated to return to the Warriors this week after being at the forefront of what coach Steve Kerr called the “biggest crisis” of his Golden State tenure.
Green won’t be suspended for punching Jordan Poole in the face at last Wednesday’s practice. Kerr announced Tuesday that the 10-year NBA veteran is expected to rejoin the Warriors at Thursday’s practice and play in the preseason finale Friday against the Denver Nuggets. Kerr also anticipates Green will be available opening night Oct. 18 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“While this is not the easiest decision, we feel this is the best decision going forward,” Kerr said Tuesday night after the Warriors’ reserves beat the Damian Lillard-less Portland Trail Blazers, 131-98.
The Warriors came to the conclusion to welcome Green back after a week of “deep discussions” with team leaders, including Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala and Kevon Looney, who helped navigate some of those conversations. The final decision, though, was up to Poole.
Green and Poole got together recently and had a “great discussion that will help us move forward,” Kerr said.
“It’s been an exhaustive process,” Kerr said. “We feel like this is the best way after assessing everything for us to move forward. It’s never easy, no matter what decision you make in a situation like this.”
Kerr acknowledged that the pathway to reconciliation will not be easy. He called this the “biggest crisis” he’s had to handle in eight years. “It’s really serious stuff,” he added. “But we’re going to lean on the experience that we have together and over the last nine years and trust that this is the best decision for our team. We have a lot of work to do — all of us … but we’re committed to doing that work together and to making this a really successful season.”
Green, 32, brutally hit Poole, 23, in the face at Wednesday’s practice after the two appeared to have been chirping one another. What was said remains unclear, but it was Green who approached Poole, coming chest-to-chest with his younger teammate. Poole responded by pushing Green away, which triggered Green to fight back.
The two had to be separated. Green privately apologized to the team Thursday and has been away from the group since.
Green took responsibility for his actions and publicly apologized to Poole and the team Saturday, one day after TMZ released an audio-less snippet of their mid-practice scuffle. Kerr has declined to publicly discuss the Warriors’ investigation into how TMZ obtained the video, though the leak of it concerned many in the organization and further fractured trust.
Poole, who joined the starters in resting Tuesday’s preseason game, hasn’t missed any time since the altercation. In fact, he returned to practice later Wednesday to finish his workout and dropped a team-high 25 points in Sunday’s preseason game. His teammates and coaches have praised the fourth-year guard’s professionalism amid the turmoil.
“He’s cool. Not much fazes him,” Kerr said of Poole’s handling of the incident. “That’s why we’re going the way we’re going, because we know that he’s fine. We know that he’s willing to get back on the floor with Draymond and go to work.”
Kerr expects Poole to meet with the media for the first time since the fight soon.
Though it’s just a matter of days before Green reunites with his teammates and gets back to work with them on their title defense, there’s a lot of work, mainly on Green’s part, to rectify the situation. It could take weeks — if not months — to make things right.
“There’s no way around it, that culture has been damaged by this incident,” Kerr said. “You have to work to repair that. You have to find that vibe again.
“We’ve got to work hard internally to try to regenerate the vibe that we need because we know, we’ve lived this, you don’t win championships on talent alone. It takes chemistry. It takes a collective will and trust that has to be rebuilt right now.”
