As the Golden State Warriors struggled to find their bearings after the departure of former MVP Kevin Durant in 2019, which led to two straight playoff misses, many hoop fans and pundits declared their dynasty over. Yes, watching the Dubs dominate and win three NBA titles in four seasons was breathtaking, but ultimately, it was short-lived.
Without KD flanking Steph and Klay Thompson, still recovering from an ACL and Achilles tendon tear, the Warriors had no chance of regaining the throne they once sat on. However, many people forgot that this franchise took pride in defying doubters.
And so, with a few timely additions of savvy veterans, the emergence of Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole, and the utter brilliance of Stephen Curry, the Warriors reached the mountaintop yet again in 2022, winning their fourth NBA championship in eight seasons.
But as the champagne dried up and the Warriors geared up for their upcoming title defense, nobody expected the dynasty to crumble in front of everyone's eyes. As longtime sentinel Draymond Green and Poole bickered during practice, the latter did the unthinkable: he punched his own teammate in the face.
And while fights between teammates happen in practice all the time, this was different, as it was caught on camera, and worse, the footage was leaked to the public. According to Green, the release of that footage was no accident.
The Warriors were still able to keep things going that season; they even reached the second round of the playoffs before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers, 4-2. But it was clear that the damage from Dray's punch to Jordan hurt not only his teammate but also the entire team. The trust was gone, and just like that, so was their title reign.
Looking back on that time of his life, Draymond absolutely believes that the release of that footage hurt their chances of keeping things in-house and repairing the frayed bond. And while he may never ever know who was behind the leak, he's sure it was a calculated act.
"You ain't never seen another video from our practice. That camera got to be on every day, right? Or was it just on that day, in that moment, for those five seconds?" Green surmised . "You see one of our plays…What we drawing up in practice coming out from those videos? You ain't seen anything else coming out from practice in those videos. So it's 100 percent calculated."
"Who was it calculated by? I don't know. I would still love to know that answer. I still don't have an answer how the video got released. Not sure I will ever get an answer," the fiery forward added. "To be honest with you, I'm not even in search of an answer. I would love to know, but I ain't chasing after it. For what? It's a waste of my time. What happened, happened."
Draymond has addressed that incident numerous times. Accepted his part in that unfortunate role that tainted his reputation and blew their chemistry to smithereens.
"I accepted my responsibility in it, and once I accepted my responsibility and I started to move forward…Like, I accepted my responsibility. I knew I was wrong. I apologized to those that I needed to apologize to," he stated. "And so, in saying that, I'm not going to spend a bunch of time going to try to figure out who released it because it's behind me, you know? And I want it to stay behind me. I don't want to put that back in front of me."
Since then, Dray has remained true to himself. He has remained the Warriors' heart and soul with a raging competitive fire that burns foes and friends alike. Green has undoubtedly learned his lesson, but it doesn't mean he'll stop being what made him one of the best players of this era.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Aug 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
