Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has battled to resettle as a veteran leader following one viral preseason incident that involved a teammate.
Before the start of the regular season, Green found himself in the center of media scrutiny after he delivered a vicious right-handed blow to the face of Jordan Poole during a team practice. After video footage of the graphic and one-sided physical alteration was leaked, many outsiders began to add their two cents on the controversial matter at hand.
With the Warriors entering their latest contest against the NBA-best Boston Celtics, Green explained the struggle of regaining trust from teammates after the 32-year-old completely blew a fuse in arguably the worst possible way.
"It's been very different, I'm not gonna lie," Green said, as seen on ESPN's "NBA Countdown" pregame show Saturday. "I've had to kind of work my way back into (being a leader). Just -- you don't wanna come overbearing to people when you've made a mistake like I've made. And I've understood that, I've tried to creep my way back in. But I think it's starting to go full force now."
With the regular-season matchup serving as the first since the Celtics and Warriors squared off in the NBA Finals back in June, there was no question why it was such a highly anticipated contest. Although Green made sure to add insult to injury and trolled the Celtics after the Warriors defeated them in six games for the NBA crown, he made sure to acknowledge their red-hot 21-5 start.
"Well obviously we know these guys are playing better basketball better than anybody in the league," Green said.
Meanwhile, the Warriors entered the East versus West battle at Chase Center with a struggling 13-13 record and losers in their last two games.
