Warriors’ Green apologises for fight with teammate

SAN FRANCISCO (AP):

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green apologised to the team a day after fighting with teammate Jordan Poole during practice, general manager Bob Myers said.

Poole practised on Thursday while Green didn’t, and Myers said any potential discipline would be handled internally. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Green will be away from the for a day and he expects him to return today.

NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry said he didn’t know what triggered the issue between Green and Poole and noted “it is possible to get through things like this”, and called it his job not to let it break the team.

Kerr praised Poole’s approach during camp.

“Jordan has been fantastic throughout camp,” Kerr said. “Someone put out there that Jordan had an attitude in camp, nothing can be further from the truth. He’s been fantastic. Disappointing to see misinformation out there but I wanted to make sure I set the record straight on that. Everything else we will handle internally and go from there.”

Myers said he doesn’t anticipate Green missing any games for Wednesday’s altercation.

“Everybody’s fine,” Myers said, saying the team is lucky nobody got hurt. “Look, it’s the NBA, professional sports, these things happen. Nobody likes it. We don’t condone it, but it happened.

“Draymond apologised to the team this morning, Jordan was there in the room, I was there in the room with the team, the coaches, the players and we heard that.”

The Athletic first reported the scuffle, saying Green struck Poole. Myers said “space is good” regarding Green not practising and going home after he addressed the team.

Curry said “JP’s been great and there’s nothing that warranted the situation yesterday”.

Curry added one of Green’s “superpowers is bringing his fire, competitiveness and voice”. Regarding the apology, “it’s necessary but you’d have to ask every guy individually how they received it, JP especially,” Curry said.

Green regularly pushes the league limit for technical fouls. He was suspended one game without pay in November 2018 for conduct detrimental to the team following an altercation with Kevin Durant. Green also sat out Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals for an accumulation of flagrant fouls.