Draymond Green’s vicious punch to Jordan Poole during Wednesday’s practice is only the start of the Golden State Warriors’ problems. After video of the incident was leaked to TMZ on Friday morning, the defending champions may have a mole to uncover within the organization.
According to Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports, the Warriors will launch an investigation into how footage of the altercation was made public.
The Warriors will investigate how TMZ obtained a video of the Draymond Green-Jordan Poole incident, according to sources.
— Melissa Rohlin (@melissarohlin) October 7, 2022
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne provided further reporting about the inquiry.
"They launched an investigation immediately. They are not happy that video got out of their practice facility and they're trying to figure out where it came from."@wojespn on the Draymond Green-Jordan Poole punch video leak đŻpic.twitter.com/4CDAsSBen3
Reporting w/ @wojespn: The Golden State Warriors are taking âevery legal course of actionâ to discover how video of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during a scuffle at practice on Wednesday was made public, sources told ESPN.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) October 7, 2022
Bob Myers, Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry addressed the fracas with media on Thursday, before video was released. While acknowledging Green’s malfeasance and insisting the potentially fraught contractual status of he nor Poole had anything to do with the incident, Golden State’s power brokers also sought to diminish not only its internal and external fallout, but overall severity.
Kerr outright refused to answer direct questions about the matter, and Curry lightly chided media at the end of his presser for focusing solely on the event involving Green and Poole instead of what actually took place on the court during Thursday’s practice. That collective approach only made things worse for the Warriors after the video went viral, calling into question whether they took Green’s overt act of violence seriously enough.
There’s a chance Golden State is forced to now, extending Green’s punishment from missing Thursday’s practice and any other behind-the-scenes discipline to a multi-game suspension.
The Warriors' efforts to downplay Draymond Green's vicious punch to Jordan Poole only made matters worse. (via @armstrongwinter)https://t.co/KfPZ5ydwTt
— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) October 7, 2022
Still, widespread outcries about the heft of Green’s punch didn’t keep some from directing most of their social media ire to whoever it was that leaked the video. Even stalwart veteran Andre Iguodala joined in on that criticism.
But the truth is that no one knows who supplied TMZ the footage for now. Former Memphis Grizzlies executive John Hollinger, currently of The Athletic, clarified on Twitter that more and more NBA teams have begun utilizing outside companies to capture practice footage.
Remember, a lot of teams are using 3rd party solutions now for practice court cams. The call might not have come from inside the house, so to speak.
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) October 7, 2022
Odds are the Warriors eventually identify the offending party here. Just like they tried with respect to Green’s punch, though, don’t expect them to shed much public light on details the probe reveals.