Jordan Poole on Relationship with Draymond Green: 'I Don't Have No Answer for You'
The Golden State Warriors' title defense began with a shocking moment when Draymond Green punched Jordan Poole in the face during an October practice.
It was the focal point of a season-long narrative that there was a growing divide between the team's veteran core and its younger players. And when Poole was asked by The Ringer's Logan Murdock on Monday where things stood between him and Green now, he didn't exactly extinguish the possibility that tension still exists:
"I don't have no answer for you. Other than that, we was just on the court and teammates, and we was out there trying to win games."
"What I do recall saying at the beginning of the season is that, 'We're coming. We're going to come out here. We're going to play on the court. We're going to try to win a championship.' We were teammates. It's just business, honestly. And that's really all it was, it is, it has been. It's just been business. It's been basketball."
Poole did tell reporters after the season that he didn't think the incident with Green impacted the Warriors' season, however.
"I mean, we made it to the second round of the playoffs," he said. "We had a good season. Guys stepped up and had a lot of exciting moments. I don't think there was anything that was changing any of that."
Maybe, maybe not, but there's little question that the 23-year-old Poole offered far less of an impact in the postseason. After averaging 17.0 points in 22 games for the Dubs in last year's run to a title, he put up just 10.3 points per game in these playoffs, shooting an abysmal 34.1 percent from the field and 25.4 percent from three.
It's possible that Poole simply hit a slump at the worst possible moment after putting up 20.4 points per game in the regular season, a career high. But the Warriors responded to his struggles by cutting his minutes from 30 a game in the regular season to just 21.8 minutes per game in the postseason.
And so the Warriors head into the offseason with seriously pressing questions.
Namely, will Bob Myers remain with the team in his role as president of basketball operations and general manager? How will the team handle a roster with over $400 million in salary commitments? Will the Dubs reshuffle the roster and move off of some of the team's younger players like Poole, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody in an effort to make one last push for a title around the veteran core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green?
"I think it is probably too raw right now for me to think about," head coach Steve Kerr told reporters when asked about the Warriors' future. "The one thing I will say is that Draymond, Klay, Steph, our core guys, they've got plenty left to offer. There is still plenty in the tank there."
"We'll figure it out," Green said. "This group was maxed. We got what we could get out of it. But this thing isn't maxed."
Whether Poole is one of the players who fits into that thing remains to be seen. But it wouldn't be shocking if he was one of the players sacrificed to build a more complementary core around Curry, Thompson and Green as they chase a fifth title together.
