It was the punch that shook a dynasty. A single moment in training camp before the 2022–23 season that, by many accounts, unraveled everything the Golden State Warriors were trying to defend, their championship, their chemistry, and their culture.
Now, nearly three years later, Draymond Green is opening up in full. On The Pivot Podcast, the Warriors forward spoke candidly about the infamous altercation with Jordan Poole, which ended in a viral video, a fractured locker room, and a chain of events that still reverberate today.
“Age thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, I still learn those lessons. That situation happened, I’m like, all right, cool, we move on. And then when we couldn’t, I was like, huh. And for a while it made me think like, man, this dude nothing like me. Cuz when those things happen, you just move on.”
“But it taught me so much because it taught me, you’re right, he may not be like you. He ain’t from where you from. The things you went through, the way you had to come up, he may not have came up like that.”
“So, for that five seconds, I forgot where I was at. Because I immediately went to what I know. But what you know don’t really work here. And everybody say, oh man, but you was ten years in, you should know better.”
“Still learning, nine years in. But, it’s them lessons like that ultimately make me who I am to this day because, man, I f**ed that up.”
The punch took place during the Warriors’ 2022 training camp, just months after they were crowned NBA champions.
It was reportedly sparked by heated trash talk, with Poole allegedly calling Green “a b***h” and mocking him as “an expensive backpack to Steph Curry.” That verbal jab reportedly hit a nerve, and Green snapped.
Green later apologized to Poole and the team, even calling it one of the biggest failures of his career. But the damage had already been done. The Warriors’ chemistry never recovered that season. On the road, they were abysmal.
In the locker room, the tension was palpable. They were bounced in the second round of the playoffs, and Poole, once hailed as the future of the franchise, was traded to the Wizards that summer.
The fallout hasn’t stopped. Poole famously avoided Green at a game, refusing to talk, and the two reportedly had fiery verbal exchanges in other games. Their Cold War spilled online, too. Poole liked a social media post mocking Green’s stat line, while Green made repeated jabs about Poole’s “work ethic” and maturity.
Poole is now a member of the Pelicans after two forgettable seasons in Washington. Green remains in Golden State, hoping the Warriors’ late push, including the addition of Jimmy Butler, gives Stephen Curry one last real shot at a title.
But that 2022 moment lingers like a scar. For a dynasty that prided itself on culture and cohesion, it was the beginning of the end. And now, with the dust settling, Green is owning it with brutal honesty:
“Man, I f***ed that up.”
