SAN FRANCISCO (AP) 鈥� Draymond Green will be away from the defending champion Golden State Warriors indefinitely, which coach Steve Kerr called a 鈥渕utual decision鈥� after the star forward violently punched teammate Jordan Poole in the face Wednesday.
Green had been scheduled to rejoin the team for practice Saturday. He said he expects to play in Golden State's season-opener on Oct. 18, but he is unsure of his status as well as how long he will be away.
Poole wasn't injured in the fight. Neither was Green, a fiery veteran part of Golden State's four championships in eight seasons.
Green did not get into specifics about what triggered the physical altercation, though he said he was already dealing with something hurtful that day before erupting and that it has nothing to do with either player鈥檚 unsettled contract situation.
He said he is giving Poole space after apologizing to everyone Thursday. Calling himself 鈥渁 very flawed human being,鈥� Green said he would use his leave of absence to work on ways to better deal with his emotions and wants to allow Poole and the Warriors to heal from the incident and focus on defending their title.
Green said he will take the challenge to 鈥渞ight the ship," which he said would not be an 鈥渆asy process.鈥�
鈥淏ut I also look forward to continuing to better myself and my emotional state and how I deal with my emotions," he said. "I think that one thing that I lack is how to let emotions out.鈥�
Kerr said there is 鈥渘o set date鈥� for when Green will be back and that it would be determined based on private discussions among everyone involved.
Video of the punch leaked to TMZ was . The footage shows Green approaching Poole near the baseline and them coming chest to chest. Poole used both hands to push Green away, then Green punched Poole in the face and sent the fourth-year guard into the wall behind the baseline.
鈥淣o. 1, I was wrong for my actions that took place on Wednesday. For that I have apologized to my team. I have apologized to Jordan,鈥� Green said during a nearly 40-minute news conference. 鈥淚 wanted to take that a step further. With the event yesterday with the video leaking, there is a huge embarrassment that comes with that, not only for myself ... but the embarrassment that Jordan has to deal with and that this team has to deal with and this organization has to deal with, but also Jordan鈥檚 family.
鈥淗is family saw that video, his mother, his father saw that video. Quite frankly, if my mother saw that video, I know how my mother would feel.鈥�
Kerr challenged the entire organization to be better regarding leaks.
鈥淚鈥檝e been in this league for 30-plus years, I鈥檝e seen all kinds of crazy stuff,鈥� Kerr said. 鈥淲hen things are kept internally it鈥檚 really almost easy to handle, it鈥檚 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 ... we鈥檙e having to answer all of these questions and it puts us in a very difficult spot, everybody in a very difficult spot.鈥�
Green said he thought it was 鈥渂ull鈥斺�斺�� that the video leaked and thanked the Warriors for investigating who did it.
"I watched the video 15 times, maybe more. Because when I watch the video I'm looking at the video and I'm like: 鈥榊o, this looks awful. This looks even worse than I thought it was, it's pathetic.' And then I had to take a step back to it and realize this video was actually released this way to look that way.鈥�
Second-year forward Jonathan Kuminga will start in Green鈥檚 place Sunday in a preseason game against the Lakers. When asked his thoughts about both the video and Green鈥檚 apology, he said 鈥渢hat's above my power.鈥�
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Janie Mccauley, The Associated Press
