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After several days away from his team, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green returned to practice on Thursday. However, the shockwaves of the incident that necessitated his leave of absence — a physical altercation with teammate Jordan Poole in which he was the aggressor — are still being felt.
That could continue to be the case throughout the 2022-23 campaign, too, as Green works to mend fences and regain some of the trust he has lost with the rest of the organization.
Many have wondered whether Green’s remaining days in the Bay Area might be numbered. At the very least, the chances that his contract will be extended this season seem pretty slim. Nevertheless, in his first meeting with media, the four-time All-Star seemed to downplay the possibility that him punching Poole’s face could actually derail the Dubs’ title defense.
“As far as us moving forward, Jordan’s a professional, I’m a professional. We have a job to do. We both have experienced a lot of winning over the course of our lives and we know what that takes. So we’re going to do just that — what it takes to win.”
Amid Green’s return, a superstar and ex-Warrior who has his own history with Green sounded off on the situation.
Durant Offers His Two Cents on the Draymond Incident
Where Green duking it out (literally or figuratively) with his teammates is concerned, Kevin Durant’s infamous dust-up with the baller probably would have taken top honors before last week.
Back in the 2018-19 season, a verbal sparring session between the two during an actual game threatened to sow the seeds of disharmony. Instead, Durant and Green made up and the Dubs were able to get back to the NBA Finals.
That said, KD doesn’t think that there’s a real comparison to be made between that incident and the one with Poole.
“That’s not the same situation,” Durant said, via ESPN. “Somebody got punched in the face… It’s no comparison to that. It was just some words that being — I heard people say that that happens a lot in the NBA. I had never seen nothing like that before. But what me and Draymond did a few years back, that s**t happens all the time.
“So it’s easy to get through something like that, but I don’t know what this situation is like.”
Durant noted that, from the outside looking in, the Warriors appear to be coping well. But he stopped short of declaring that as fact, and he also maintained that its up to the people directly involved and/or affected to make those determinations.
“It seems cool, everybody’s back to normal,” Durant said. “Draymond is playing next game, Jordan was playing last game. So I guess it’s back to normal. Anything around our sport that doesn’t just involve the game of basketball — once it gets to that type of stuff, I try to stay away from it. It has nothing to do with anybody else but those people in the locker room.”
KD on the Ubiquity of Such an Incident
Ever since word of Green’s attack on Poole first hit the hoops blogosphere, there has been a sizable contingent of people — fans, current and former players, pundits, et al. — who have claimed that behind-the-scenes scuffles that get overly physical or even result in punches being thrown are commonplace.
However, Durant — who’s now in his 16th year as a pro hooper — clearly has a contrasting experience of the league.
“It’s rare,” Durant said. “It’s rare. I’ve been in the league 16 years, and I’ve never seen that until the other day on camera. You hear about it with MJ and you hear about it with Bobby Portis, but there’s nothing that’s happening every year. It’s very rare that something like that happens.”
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