Draymond Green has broken his silence in the wake of a video showing him punching teammate Jordan Poole was leaked to the media.
The 32-year-old made his first public comments since the incident in which he apologised for his actions and admitted to being ‘a very flawed human being’.
Green will step away from the Golden State Warriors indefinitely in a move that coach Steve Kerr called a ‘mutual decision’.
Green told the media that he would be using his leave of absence to work on himself and to allow Poole and the Warriors to heal from the incident.
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He didn’t get into the specifics of what sparked the altercation but said he was already dealing with a hurtful situation from earlier on in the day.
He said: “But I also look forward to continuing to better myself and my emotional state and how I deal with my emotions.
"I think that one thing that I lack is how to let emotions out.”
Video of the incident leaked to TMZ on Saturday morning (October 8) and showed words being exchanged before Green approached Poole.
The guard shoved Green before the four-time champion fired off with a brutal right hand that clocked Poole square in the face and knocked him against the wall.
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Green spoke of the embarrassment that came as a result of the footage surfacing to the public.
He continued: “Number one, I was wrong for my actions that took place on Wednesday. For that I have apologised to my team. I have apologised to Jordan.
“I wanted to take that a step further. With the event yesterday with the video leaking, there is a huge embarrassment that comes with that, not only for myself ... but the embarrassment that Jordan has to deal with and that this team has to deal with and this organisation has to deal with, but also Jordan’s family.
“His family saw that video, his mother, his father saw that video. Quite frankly, if my mother saw that video, I know how my mother would feel.”
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He added that he was a ‘very flawed human being’ and felt he had ‘failed as a leader’ and as a man.
Green maintained that he wanted to rebuild the locker room’s trust in him, and hoped to be a part of the first NBA fixture against the Lakers on October 18.
Although, there was no indication of when Green would return to the Warriors.
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Steve Kerr challenged the organisation to be more diligent in keeping leaks from getting out.
He said: “I’ve been in this league for 30-plus years, I’ve seen all kinds of crazy stuff.
“When things are kept internally it’s really almost easy to handle, it’s just so much cleaner and smoother and you can move forward.
“As soon as things are leaked now all hell breaks loose and that affects every single player ... we’re having to answer all of these questions and it puts us in a very difficult spot, everybody in a very difficult spot.”
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Green added that he believed it was ‘bulls**t’ that the video leaked and that the organisation was looking into who went ahead with sharing the footage.
Featured Image Credit: Anthony Slater/Twitter. NBA/YouTube.Topics: NBA, Basketball, US Sports
