Specific genesis of the altercation that culminated in Draymond Green “forcefully striking” Jordan Poole during Wednesday's practice remains unknown. One day after the incident took place, though, Steve Kerr made sure to correct at least one aspect of reporting about the fracas between the Golden State Warriors stars.
Speaking after president of basketball operations Bob Myers and largely refusing to answer direct questions about the incident, the Warriors head coach went out of his way to push back on a report that “a change in Poole's behavior” amid contract extension talks is what initially drew Green's ire.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Kerr said. “[Poole has] been fantastic. Disappointing to see misinformation out there.”
Steve Kerr mostly declined to get into specifics but made sure to add: “The only thing I will say is Jordan (Poole’s attitude) has been fantastic throughout camp.” pic.twitter.com/p5HvR0scrB
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 6, 2022
Reporting on Poole's allegedly shifting attitude came from Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday night, shortly after news of the fracas first broke.
Andre Iguodala quickly and emphatically refuted that tidbit on Twitter, also expressing his support for Green. Stephen Curry echoed Kerr's comments on Thursday while following his coach on the interview podium, too.
Steph Curry called it "absolute BS" that Jordan Poole has had a bad attitude at camp.
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) October 6, 2022
Steph Curry said Jordan Poole has been great. "There was nothing that warranted the situation yesterday."
He said he hates that questions about Poole's attitude surfaced in the aftermath of the altercation. "It's not fair to JP."
— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) October 6, 2022
Poole still hasn't signed a contract extension as the October 17th deadline approaches. Myers said on Thursday that Warriors management is currently in the process of negotiating with Poole's representatives, and that the dustup with Green will not change how the front office approaches contract talks with either player.
For his part, Poole insisted at Media Day that his focus was squarely on helping Golden State win consecutive championships, adding that he'd let his agents handle any extension discussions. Green also admitted he didn't think he'd be receiving the extension he desires, advocating for Poole—still without a big-money contract at this early stage of his career—to be first in Golden State's extension pecking order ahead of himself and Andrew Wiggins.
Green apologized to his teammates and coaches on Thursday, and Poole practiced in full. The Warriors have already begun the process of putting this incident behind them. Doing so will certainly be made easier by the fact that Poole's attitude wasn't the source of budding friction between he and Green.
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