The Golden State Warriors fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games in the Western Conference Semifinals. After the series was over, the questions were what was next for the Warriors and, more importantly, what went wrong. If you ask Steve Kerr, the team lacked trust in each other.
Speaking with ESPN, Kerr stated the team always had an uphill battle due to a lack of trust, and at the root of that issue was Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during training camp.
“Anytime some trust is lost, then it makes the process much more difficult, and there was some trust lost,” Kerr said. “That’s as blunt as I can be. We have to get back to what has made us really successful, which is a really trusting environment and a group that relies on one another and makes each other better.”
He added, “There’s no hiding from it — the incident with Draymond and Jordan at the beginning of the year played a role in that. It’s hard for that not to impact a team.”
Green can become a free agent this summer or opt into the last year of his contract. Green has not decided, but Kerr wants him back. “If Draymond is not back, we’re not a championship contender. We know that. He’s that important to winning and to who we are. I absolutely want him back.”
Draymond Green echoed the sentiments appearing on Stephen A. Smith’s simulcast of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, stating the team was not “able to come together.”
“None of those things happen if that doesn’t happen, because the voice that I am and the departments that I lead this team in, there was a ton of slippage due to me sitting back, me not saying anything, me trying to allow that situation to play itself out and give it time to heal,” Green said.
He added, “About February I started to feel like myself again and speak more.”
Speaking with The Ringer’s Logan Murdock, Poole was asked about how that moment hurt the season. Initially he responded, “I don’t have no answer for you.” Poole followed up with, “We were teammates. It’s just business, honestly. And that’s really all it was, it is, it has been. It’s just been business. It’s been basketball.”
