Draymond Green says he had to punch Jordan Poole to learn not to punch teammates

Draymond Green is no stranger to fights, so the fact that there is one he’s been in that is pretty clearly the worst of his career is sort of an achievement in its own right, if you really think about it. That (dis)honor will almost assuredly always go to his punch of his then Golden State Warriors teammate Jordan Poole during the 2022 preseason.

Draymond has apologized multiple times since, but the aftershocks of that punch — and the subsequent leak of video of it to TMZ — are still being felt today. Poole’s play cratered afterward, Draymond himself blamed it for the team’s elimination from the subsequent playoffs, and Poole had to be salary dumped to the Wizards for a one-year rental of Chris Paul to diffuse the bad vibes.

But Warriors fans who still harbor ill feelings about a punch that basically ended their 2022 title defense before it even began shouldn’t worry, though, because Draymond is a podcaster. And as anyone who has ever spoken extemporaneously and with topical authority on the air knows, every mistake you make in your life was not actually a mistake, it was really just something that had to happen so you can improve yourself and pass along your wisdom to others from on high.

And as Draymond revealed to Penny Hardaway on his “Two Cents” podcast, he had to punch Jordan Poole in order to learn that young players will not be as receptive to his mentorship if he punches them (emphasis mine):

“One of my biggest failures as a vet was what happened with Jordan Poole. And it took me to go through that failure with Jordan Poole, who was someone that came in and chose his locker to be next to me because he wanted to learn from me. Was someone that I would spend time with, that I would pour into, and I f—ed it all up. And I haven’t felt that miserably (about) most things in my life, and so that was one of my biggest failures. It taught me a ton. It showed me how to be a better vet for Jonathan Kuminga, how to be a better vet for Moses Moody, but I had to go through that in order to learn.

“And like I said, it sucked, but in being that vet now, and just wanting to pour into these guys, I think the most important thing for me is knowing how to. With Jordan Poole I wanted to pour into him, and I did pour into him. But the how to I didn’t necessarily know. And because I didn’t necessarily know, it kind of led us to a place that we can’t come back from. But for these younger guys I know not to get to get close to that place, but how to accomplish the same thing that I was trying to accomplish with that.”

It’s unclear when exactly Draymond learned the invaluable lesson that people are less likely to listen to your advice if you punch them, but it was likely at some point after someone — it’s hard to guess who! — basically leaked to Green’s then-TNT coworker Chris Haynes that Green had apologized but also that Poole was pretty much asking for it.

But whenever that revelation that punching teammates will make them less likely to listen to him struck Green, it’s clear the lesson paid off, because we have not heard of him hitting a single teammate — young or old! — since then. He also got a meditation special from Amazon Prime out of the whole thing, so that’s cool!

And with that newfound insight, the aspiring broadcaster has instead, wisely, decided to spare teammates from that type of aggression… and save it for things like choking Rudy Gobert, hitting Jusuf Nurkic with a Mortal Kombat finishing move, getting his ankle x-rayed to make sure he didn’t injure it while stomping on the chest of Domantas Sabonis, and most recently by trying out wrestling moves on Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht instead of attempting a free-throw rebound.

You may not like it, but that’s what we call growth, ladies and gentlemen, and while the NBA may not be a safer place for Draymond’s novel wisdom, at least the Warriors’ practice facility is. So congrats to Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody: You can call Draymond an “expensive backpack for 30” all you want and he won’t punch you. Probably. Maybe.

Actually, you know what? You probably shouldn’t test that. Just to be safe.