Green’s impulse control problem

The damning video and damage to Jordan Poole’s left eye say it all. The Golden State Warriors guard was assaulted during practice by his own teammate, the ruffian Draymond Green. With the video having been leaked by notorious entertainment portal TMZ, the defending champions are now scrambling to do damage control and contemplate the future of their relationship with the misbehaving forward.

“I feel like it’s Draymond’s third strike. Up 3-1 during the 2016 Finals suspension which we eventually lost to Cleveland; bad blood with KD (Kevin Durant) and eventually pushing away a top two player in the league. The Poole incident,” explains International TV personality and lifelong Warriors fan Rovilson Fernandez. “As fans, we respect Draymond for adding toughness and swagger to our (finesse) team. Every team needs their enforcer. Their disciplinarian. But ever since the footage leaked out, there was such a ferocity to Draymond’s punch, seemed like he was holding in that hatred / hostility for a while now.”

Green has voluntarily taken a leave from the Warriors, claiming that personal problems shortened his temper. Immediately, it seemed the team was more concerned with how the video was leaked by a staff member than the repercussions of the violent incident itself.

“The Warriors are too scared to discipline Green that Draymond basically suspended himself after seeing the video and realizing how much worse the incident was than how he remembered it,” explains Leo Balayon, the incoming director of athletics and head men’s basketball coach at Stanton University in California. “Some coaches talk about the incident as something to be accepted as part of sports. I just don’t think it can be justified any longer by the years and years of macho culture in men’s sports.”

Of course, being part of a successful NBA franchise carries perks and privileges,.and cuts you a lot of slack. With Green, the Warriors have won four NBA titles since 2015. It creates a sense of entitlement. Like many famous athletes, Green may feel that he can say or do whatever he wants.

“We as fans are really curious as to the disciplinary actions GM Bob Meyers will hand down (It’s all the chatter on sports talk radio here in the Bay Area),” adds Fernandez. “Winning will always solve everything, but at the cost of assaulting a younger player? That’s a moral decision each of us must deal with.”

“It’s very unpopular in my circles here, but I don’t believe there is a place in sports for violence like that,” adds Balayon. “It fits the legal definition of physical assault in the workplace.”

At 32, Draymond is on the downward trajectory of his career. Will keeping him be worth the moral cost, or is it a good time to shop him around while he still has considerable value? Or will Golden State – like Green – just wait for the heat to die down and try to go back to business as usual?