With the Golden State Warriors now watching the playoffs from home, the postmortem on their season is in full effect.

Falling short in the second round against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Warriors struggled to find the same cohesion that saw them lift the Larry O’Brien trophy just a year ago, with their lack of chemistry tracing back to the preseason incident between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole.

Green and Poole infamously got into it at practice, resulting in Green punching Poole in the face, leaving the guard — who had freshly signed a $140 million extension — with facial injuries. That resulted in a fine for Green.

Green says Poole incident hampered Warriors

During an alternate ESPN broadcast of Game 1 between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, Green discussed the Warriors’ failure to repeat as champions with Stephen A. Smith, admitting that the incident with Poole was a big reason why they’re now sitting at home.

MORE: Best options for Draymond Green as he enters free agency

“We’re not playing right now because — when you speak about the fouling, when you speak about the slippage that we had as a team on the road, not being able to come together, none of those things happen if [the altercation with Poole] doesn’t happen.” Green said.

“Because the voice that I am, the departments that I lead this team in, there was a ton of slippage due to me sitting back. Me not saying anything. Me trying to allow that situation to play itself out and giving it time to heal. But while you’re giving it all that time, guess what?”

Draymond speaks on how his altercation with Jordan Poole affected Warriors’ season.@Money23Green | @stephenasmith pic.twitter.com/ZSSE3yhyE2

With Green unable to be the same vocal leader on the court, he added that he didn’t begin to feel like himself till February and by that time the team had already developed some bad habits.

“There was five months of the season where slippage has just been occurring and by February, if that slippage has been going on that long, you are where you are at that point. You’ve built bad habits. That is who you are now. So, to try to correct them then, OK. You might get a little bit better, and we did. We ended up in the second round of the playoffs. But not at a championship level.”

Steve Kerr discusses Green’s future

With Green entering the final year of his contract, which includes a player option that will allow him to become an unrestricted free agent if he opts out, his future in Golden State is still to be decided.

Following the Warriors’ exit, head coach Steve Kerr discussed Green’s future with the team, and while he remains an integral part of their core, there’s work to be done to restore the Warriors to their former glory.

“He knows that he had a great season this year from a basketball perspective but he knows he also compromised things by what happened back in October,” Kerr said.

“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. One thing I love about Draymond is he’s always brutally honest and he can take that sort of critique because he knows it’s the truth.”

Here is an extended Steve Kerr perspective on Draymond Green and his future. Said the Warriors are not a title contender if they lose Draymond, but said the preseason punch “compromised” the season. pic.twitter.com/JP4NXtb3HM

Green’s player option for 2023-24 is worth $27.6 million. At 33 years old, he could opt out in search of a long-term deal either with the Warriors or another team.

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