Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green took part in the Star Street Battle Tournament in Quzhou, China, on Friday. Green and Slim faced off against Chen Zewen and Cheng Xinkai in a two-on-two game to 100 points and managed to win in some style.
Green and Slim blew out Zewen and Xinkai 100-59, but the veteran forward did have a bit of an embarrassing moment during the game. The 35-year-old blew a wide-open dunk at one stage and then hilariously proceeded to put one of his opponents, who was wearing a Jordan Poole jersey, in a headlock.
Draymond just put some dude rocking a Jordan Poole jersey in a headlock 😂 pic.twitter.com/p06b8JfxB6
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) September 19, 2025
A man who seemed to be the security guard appeared concerned for the Chinese player, but he was fine. He dapped up Green, and they continued to play the game.
Of course, there are a couple of things that immediately come to mind when Poole and a headlock are brought up with regards to Green. He has had quite the troubled history.
Green infamously punched Poole during a Warriors practice session back in October 2022, and all hasn’t been well between them since. Poole recently liked an Instagram post in which his former teammate was getting clowned for struggling in a scrimmage.
Green has expressed regret over the punch, but made it clear that Poole has to move on. The four-time All-Star also stated that you can’t call someone a b***h and not get hit.
While Green is at least apologetic for his punch on Poole, that isn’t the case when it comes to his headlocking Rudy Gobert back in November 2023. The NBA slapped him with a five-game suspension for the act, and he stated when he returned that he does not regret what he did to Gobert.
That was a time when Green was making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Not long after this headlock, Green struck Jusuf Nurkic in the face in December 2023. It was his third violent act of the year, having also stomped on Domantas Sabonis in the 2023 playoffs.
So, the NBA inevitably came down hard on Green for hitting Nurkic. He was suspended indefinitely and would end up missing 16 games in total.
Green has at least managed to stay out of trouble since then, and the Warriors would be hoping that continues to be the case moving forward. He remains an important piece for them and averaged 9.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game in the 2024-25 season.
Green is extremely optimistic about what the future holds, having boldly declared that the Warriors will win the NBA championship in 2026. They aren’t viewed as one of the serious contenders as of now, but have proven the doubters wrong plenty of times in the past.
