The Warriors had a rat in their building Wednesday morning. Now the organization is trying to sniff ‘em out.
On Friday morning, TMZ published an audio-free video of Draymond Green’s punch on Jordan Poole during Wednesday’s practice that has since gone viral with tens of millions of views.
So, how did TMZ get its hands on the video in the first place? Golden State wants to know, too.
Madeline Kenney of the Bay Area News Group first reported that the Warriors were investigating how TMZ obtained the clip. ESPN’s Ramon Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowksi added more context Friday afternoon, saying, “every legal course of action” will be taken by Warriors to determine who shared the video.
TMZ has a history of paying for viral content in the past. According to the New York Post, TMZ paid a hotel worker $250,000 for a video of artist Solange Knowles attacking rap icon and brother-in-law Jay-Z in an elevator. The Post also reported that the employee was later identified and fired. TMZ knew there would be immense interest in this story, as evidenced by the nearly 20 million views the video received on Twitter alone in its first six hours.
You have to think that somebody shared this video and got a six-figure payday in return, at the risk of losing their job. What’s weird, is if the video originated from someone within the organization, the franchise only stands to get hurt by it.
Perhaps a guest was in the building and whipped out their phone at the right time? Perhaps a trusted staffer sent it to a friend who was enamored by the money?
Steve Kerr and the Warriors won't be happy. The coach opened his press conference Thursday by expressing disappointment that the episode left the building in the first place. This was before the video got out.
"Anytime there's something that happens, we try to handle things internally," Kerr said. "Very difficult to keep everything in-house, obviously."
Either way, it’s a whole ‘nother fire that the organization has to put out as one of its franchise players has turned the start of the 2022 season on its head.
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