The Golden State Warriors have a big, big problem with the video leaking of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during a practice. It’s already been reported that the team is going to look into how the video made its way to TMZ, and in his press conference where he announced he is taking a leave of absence, Green made clear that he had an issue with the clip of the incident making its way into the public several days after it was originally reported.
That sentiment is shared by Steve Kerr, who met with the media on Saturday afternoon. Kerr spoke at length about the video getting to TMZ, why it is important to keep these sorts of things internal, and how he’s disappointed this sort of thing keeps happening to the defending champs.
Steve Kerr: “In 32 years, I’ve probably seen 20-plus fist fights. It should not make it out of our walls. We need to be better.”
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 8, 2022
Steve Kerr: “For whatever reason, we’ve had leaks in this organization. This is not the first time. That needs to be cleaned up.” pic.twitter.com/aVord8DluU
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 8, 2022
“Everything is internal, so my answer to that is we’ve had those discussions with individuals with the team, and those discussions will stay private as long as nobody leaks those conversations,” Kerr said when asked whether or not the video becoming public changed the situation at all.
Kerr was later asked if there’s still a state of shock around the team, and brought things back to the fact that the video of the punch leaked.
“This is why it’s so crucial to keep things in-house,” Kerr said. “I’ve been in this league for 30-plus years, I’ve seen all kinds of crazy stuff. When things are kept internally, it’s really, almost easy to handle them. It’s just so much cleaner and smoother and you can move forward. As soon as things are leaked, now all hell breaks loose, and that affects every single player, coach, especially the players.
“Because of that, because everything is out there, the players are now having to deal with all of this stuff, having to answer all those questions, and puts us in a very difficult spot, everybody in a difficult spot,” Kerr continued. “Because it’s like if you had a camera in your family, and there was a family dispute, would you really wanna discuss it in the world? No, of course not. You wanna handle it internally. So, that’s always the goal, and for whatever reason, we’ve had leaks in this organization. This is not the first time, so that needs to be cleaned up, and that’s a big part of the issue.”