>
Draymond Green BEGINS for Warriors after being fined for punching teammate Jordan Poole, who comes off the bench in Q1 as Golden State takes to court for final preseason game
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
Draymond Green began his return to the squad for the Warriors on Friday night after punching teammate Jordan Poole and then being fined by the organization.
Poole started Friday’s preseason game from the bench in the first quarter to a huge applause from the crowd.
Footage surfaced last week of Green hitting Poole during training, with the Warriors opting to handle the incident internally.
Draymond Green was fined by the Warriors after beating teammate Jordan Poole
Although Poole was able to finish training and apparently uninjured, Green hit his teammate’s face with a right hand.
Steve Kerr said this week that Green has been fined by the team but has not been officially suspended by the organization despite being absent for some time.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that the Warriors’ ring night, where Green and his teammates will receive their 2021-22 title rings before the first game of the season against the Lakers, had a “significant” influence on the team’s choice not to suspend him.
But Green admitted on Thursday that he was “not sure” whether he and the fourth-year player could ever become friends again.
“Like I said before, that’s not up to me,” said the four-time NBA champion. “I don’t think there’s much relevance either. Frankly, we both know how to play basketball and that’s the most important thing for us.
“We get paid to do a job and we come to do that job the best we can. We want to keep winning, so we’re going to do what we have to do to win.’
When he announced his retirement from the team last week, Green called the leak of the punch video obtained by TMZ “bulls***” but apologized to Poole.
Jordan Poole was uninjured after being hit and then finished training
“First, I was wrong for my actions that happened on Wednesday, and for that I apologized to my team, I apologized to Jordan,” he said. “I wanted to go one step further with yesterday’s video leak event.
“There comes a tremendous shame, not only from myself as the one who committed the action, but also from the shame that Jordan is dealing with, that the team is dealing with, but also Jordan’s family.”
“His mom and dad saw that video. Frankly, I know that if my mom had seen that video, what would be her reaction would be her next step. So I apologize to his mom and dad.”