Jordan Poole is a talker. Draymond Green is a talker.
Even back as far as his first rookie training camp, Poole had built a reputation within the Warriors organization.
In fact, Draymond used to be a fan of Poole’s trash talk. Back on Oct. 23, 2019, Draymond told reporters that he was a fan of JP’s brash attitude with teammates.
“He don’t stop talking,” Green said with a smile. “He does not stop, which is funny to me. I see people get pissed off in practice. I’ve heard three people say, ‘Ah, man, he’s a rookie. He don’t ever shut up.’ And I just be sitting there like, ‘Good job young fella, you got ‘em mad.’ I remember being that wouldn't shut up and everybody hated it. Doing something right, young fella. Keep going. I just walk away smiling. It’s great.”
Clearly, something changed within the next three years. Last October, Draymond clocked Poole after the two exchanged words in practice, with a leaked video that went viral a couple days later.
On Tuesday, the PatBev Podcast shared a clip of their most recent episode with Green, when he went on the defensive and tried to pin the blame of The Punch on the young guard.
“I don't just hit people," Green said. "Dialogue of course happens over time, and you usually ain't just triggered by something that fast, to that degree. This is a team, ain't nobody on my team triggering me in an instant. We know stuff that you don't say amongst men. We know things that you have to stand on.”
So much for loving JP’s trash talk, ey Draymond?
We can only speculate on what Poole said to Draymond that triggered him to throw a haymaker, but you have to assume it has something to do with JP’s ascent and Green’s decline. About a week after the punch in practice, Poole signed a four-year, $123 million extension with the Warriors that set him up to make more money than Draymond, beginning with the 2023-24 season.
This year, Poole is set to make $27.4 million while Green is slated to make $22.3 million. Perhaps the 33-year-old Green got upset that he was losing his grasp on the league while Poole was just getting started.
Whatever the issue, it seems like Draymond is waging a PR campaign to prove his point. Given his statements from 2019, it’s another bad look for Green, who appeared to snap and lose his cool over something he used to adore.
