Chris Haynes says Jordan Poole was asking for it

Oct 6, 2022 - 3:31 PM

Draymond Green apologized for fighting with Jordan Poole at a Golden State Warriors practice earlier today, but he made sure to let Yahoo’s Chris Haynes know that Poole deserved it.

Poole and Draymond had a yelling match that escalated to a chest-to-chest staredown to pushing and shoving. Then Draymond delivered an “escalation of the physical altercation”, which we assume means he punched Poole. Maybe he kicked him in the groin, which was Draymond’s classic finishing move in 2016. Still, “escalation of the physical altercation” feels like when the police kill a suspect and journalists call it an “officer-involved shooting.”

The Warriors can sign Poole to a rookie extension by October 17th, and there’s growing feeling a deal will get done, especially after Tyler Herro’s extension set a market price for high-scoring sixth men from the 2019 draft. And “teammates” have noticed a change in his behavior, but let’s be honest, Draymond Green is the source for Chris Haynes on this one. It’s not difficult to imagine the flashy, short-shorts-loving Poole rubbing teammates the wrong way, particularly after the Athletic reported that “Poole and Green are known to regularly get into verbal arguments.”

Draymond didn’t appear to have invited Poole to his wedding, where guests did include teammates Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Moses Moody, and Juan Toscano-Anderson. That’s fine, they don’t have to be friends. After all, Steph Curry went to Monta Ellis’ wedding and it didn’t help their relationship (The only other Warrior in attendance was Devean George.)

And sometimes practice fights aren’t so bad! Coach Steve Kerr was another skinny, sweet-shooting guard who got punched by a No. 23 during practice, and he said that it actually helped his relationship with Michael Jordan. That team went on to win 72 games, after all.

Regardless of Poole’s attitude, it could simply be that Draymond has a fear of abandonment. When a teammate of his has a chance to test free agency after the season, it hurts Draymond’s feeling, and he reacts by lashing out! Just look at what happened with Kevin Durant in 2018!

Of course, it goes both ways with free agents. Draymond contends that Harrison Barnes still has beef with him because Barnes believes Draymond ran him out of town to get Durant.

On his podcast, Draymond explained, “He took it very personally at me. This dude invite Steph, Klay, everybody to his wedding except me.”

Hold on. Draymond thinks it’s a sign of personal animosity if you don’t invite a Warriors teammate to your wedding? Maybe this Poole-Green beef is deeper than we realize.

UPDATE: Andre Iguodala has weighed in, defending Jordan Poole.

UPDATE II: Four days ago, Klay Thompson celebrated his and Curry’s victory in a three-point contest over Poole and Moses Moody and said, “It was nice to humble Jordan Poole.”