Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr recently appeared on a panel about leadership and was blunt about the viral altercation which upended the championship chemistry that his team had, comparing and contrasting it to what he experienced as a member of the Chicago Bulls dynasty led by Michael Jordan.
Steve Kerr Discusses the Delicate Balancing Act of Team Chemistry
Just three years ago, the Golden State Warriors were poised to add to their championship dynasty once again after winning their first NBA title since their dominant run from 2015 to 2018, winning three titles during that stretch.
But one viral incident between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole would go on to thoroughly disrupt the team chemistry, and head coach Steve Kerr was frank how it “destroyed” them while appearing at a leadership forum earlier this month.
The longtime coach of the Warriors appeared at “The Leadership Playbook,” an event organized by the Aleda Collective with Arsenal FC head coach Mikel Arteta earlier in September which took place in London, England.
Kerr and Arteta spoke at length about their experiences, and how to handle hard truths and navigate the differences that can arise. Aleda co-founder Luke Darcy brought up an incident where Kerr and Hall of Famer Michael Jordan had a fistfight during a practice, resulting in Kerr having a black eye.
“How do you handle that situation?,” Darcy asked.
“It happens,” Kerr replied. “You know, I’m sure it happens for you guys. There’s usually, I would say, two or three fights a year on our team in basketball. And you know, it’s not like the normal rules of society. You can’t go to work in the office and punch somebody, but in basketball, you can kind of do that and it’s okay after.”
He spoke about how then-head coach Phil Jackson went to both men and asked them to apologize to each other, without any major fanfare or press scrutiny: “It was also the mid-90s when this stuff didn’t make it out. There was no social media, so it was actually a lot easier to handle.”
“I Tried My Best to Handle It:” Kerr Opens Up on Altercation That Wrecked Warriors’ Continued Title Hopes
Kerr then opened up about the fight between Green and Poole, without naming them outright at first. “We had an incident on our team with the Warriors a few years ago where not only was there a fight that made it out to the media, but the actual video footage made it online, and it destroyed our team,” he said.
The video showing Green punching Poole during practice and knocking him down had been leaked to TMZ in October 2022, and it exploded on social media. The Warriors would fine Green, but opted not to suspend him.
The incident cast a pall over the team for the 2022-2023 season, and the Warriors would end up trading Poole to the Washington Wizards before the start of the next season. It would also impact the organization’s reputation on a whole throughout the league.
“I tried my best to handle it, but when the video made it out, the player who was involved, Jordan P…the video was much more difficult than the fight itself,” Kerr explained. “We were trying to repair that all season long and we never really were able to. So there are things that happen all the time that are so difficult. You do your best, you communicate with the players, you try to mend fences, but some things are insurmountable.”
As of now, the Warriors are still hoping to recapture that championship spark, having added superstar guard Jimmy Butler in a trade with the Miami Heat last season to play alongside Green and superstar Stephen Curry.
But some of those chemistry issues are still in play as the team is trying to end a contract stalemate with power forward Jonathan Kuminga, who is seeking a larger deal than what the Warriors are currently offering.
