Though the 2022-23 NBA regular season has officially begun, one storyline from the preseason that fans are still following quite closely is the current tension in the Golden State Warriors locker room.
As fans know, the primary cause for the drama took place earlier this month when reports started bubbling up about an altercation involving Jordan Poole and Draymond Green during practice.
The story seemed like it was going to blow over, but that all changed when a video depicting Green punching Poole in the face tore across social media and the internet.
Millions of views later, it became clear that the Warriors had a serious problem to deal with.
While Green stepped away from the team for a few days, he returned to the squad before missing a regular season game. He was in the building when the Warriors celebrated their 2022 NBA championship earlier this week.
However, just because the team has officially started its campaign to try to defend its title does not mean that all is healed. Members of the Warriors have made it quite clear that Green is going to have to earn his teammates’ trust.
As for the relationship between Poole and Green going forward, former NBA star Vince Carter recently chimed in to say that the situation between the two Warriors stars reminds him a lot of the strife that took place between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal when they were teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers.
“There could be drama that maybe they don’t talk to each other,” he said. “Fine, you still do your job within the lines, and it reminds me of a Laker team when Kobe and Shaq weren’t vibing in their talk, and they didn’t hang out on the court. They would have back and forth, but guess what? You could not stop them when they got on the court in the lines. They did what they had to do for each other, and I look at this team the same way.”
Carter seems confident that the Warriors will be able to move past what they are currently dealing with. Though that may be the case, it is interesting to note that Green still seems determined to show his side of the story.
He recently released a 21-minute, self-produced documentary and spent about five minutes of it discussing the punch.
“I never really knew how much it blew up. … I was just at home chillin with my children.”
Draymond reflects on the viral video of his altercation with Jordan Poole
(via @NBAonTNT) pic.twitter.com/gOqWpFDfYG
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 18, 2022
Coincidentally, Green worked with Omaha Productions to make the doc, the very same company that produces Carter’s podcast.
Ultimately, it is hard to know what will happen from here. The Warriors already logged their first win of the season and looked good doing it, but that does not mean that crisis within the locker room has been completely averted.
Surely, fans will continue looking for any potential signs of trouble as the season progresses.
