Steve Kerr identified the underlying reason why his Golden State Warriors couldn’t pull past the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinal round.
Up among their 11-30 road game record and foul-prone defense, the Warriors coach explained it all came down to a lack of trust that was never re-established after the incident when Draymond Green punched Jordan Poole.
“There’s no hiding from it — the incident with Draymond and Jordan at the beginning of the year played a role in that,” Kerr said in his exit interview on Tuesday. “It’s hard for that not to impact a team.”
At the Warriors’ training camp in October, words were exchanged between the two teammates before Green shoved and punched Poole in a high-profile scuffle.
Green sat out the rest of practice, spent a week away from the team, and later was fined by the Warriors.
The four-time All-Star and NBA champion returned for opening night and averaged 8.5 points, 6.8 assists, and 7.2 rebounds throughout the regular season.
Nevertheless, the same team chemistry wasn’t present and it showed, falling in Game 6 to the Lakers 4-2.
“Anytime some trust is lost, then it makes the process much more difficult, and there was some trust lost,” Kerr said in his exit interview on Tuesday. “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.”
Poole, who struggled in the postseason, told The Ringer his relationship with Green was “just business.”
“I don’t have no answer for you,” he said. “Other than that, we was just on the court and teammates, and we was out there trying to win games. What I do recall saying at the beginning of the season is that, ‘We’re coming. We’re going to come out here. We’re going to play on the court. We’re going to try to win a championship.’ 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.”
Kerr said the Warriors need to bridge the gap between core players such as Green, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and their younger players in Poole, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, to prevent something like this from souring their NBA Finals chances down the line.
“I think those relationships within the organization have to be forged, and it doesn’t happen overnight,” Kerr said. “It’s like any other human relationship; it just takes time. We have to continue to allow these relationships to grow, but we need to purposely forge them, too, through not only the experience of what we’re going through but through communicating what everybody is feeling.”
Nevertheless, they may have to do much more than that if Greene decides to leave the Warriors, as he has a $27.6 million player option for the 2023-24 season but has not made a decision yet.
Greene has been with Golden State for nine seasons since he was selected in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft.
“Look, if Draymond is not back, we’re not a championship contender,” Kerr said who hasn’t spoken to the volatile forward since the season ended, but expects to soon. “We know that. He’s that important to winning and to who we are. I absolutely want him back.”
“He knows that he also compromised things by what happened back in October. So part of him coming back next year has to be about rebuilding some of that trust and respect that he’s earned here for a long period of time.”