After the Warriors’ 102-101 victory over the Kings to bring them to 4-1, All-Star forward Draymond Green took a moment to skewer last year’s team chemistry, contrasting it with that of the current group.
“Last year was horse shit,” Green said. “Hard to come to work. Not fun. This year, you see the joy on guys’ face when they come into the building. You’ve got guys staying over two, three hours after just sitting around talking. Getting here two, three hours early just to be here. It’s like, you start to see that and you’re like okay, this is a group that likes being together. We did some stuff this summer, had dinners together — no one was running out the door. Usually, there’s that guy who’s like looking around ‘when can I get out.’ You’re looking around trying to see, and nobody’s trying to get out. We’re trying to build on that, and that’ll be a big key to our season.”
Green, the 33-year-old vocal leader, praised this team’s willingness to sacrifice. In a 4-1 start to the season, a variety of players have closed games, correspondingly leaving some on the bench in the most important moments.
Wednesday night, Gary Payton II finished the game over Andrew Wiggins. Klay Thompson drilled the game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds remaining.
“I can’t name one person in there that hasn’t shown the willingness to sacrifice thus far,” Green said. “And I don’t see that changing. That doesn’t mean a guy isn’t going to be mad that he comes out the game – we’re competitors, we want to play. But when it’s all said and done, I’ve got my teammates’ back. I’m not going to be a distraction to this team. I think that’s great. Last year, we had an awful team as far as chemistry goes.”
Green’s admissions weren’t shocking to anyone who paid attention to the Warriors last year, but it’s still notable that he made the comments publicly.
Green described last year’s struggles with chemistry as an “anomaly.” No team can win four NBA titles and have the kind of stability unparalleled in the modern game without a strong organizational culture.
Yet last year’s vibes were very clearly off from the very beginning. During training camp, Green punched teammate Jordan Poole in the face, which earned him a team-issued suspension. That incident — and the fact that a video of it leaked — loomed over the team for the rest of the season.
Poole and Green never seemed to fully reconcile their differences, and the Warriors lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals. Green said on Wednesday night that a big reason for their early exit was “our chemistry sucked.”
This summer, the Warriors traded Poole to the Wizards for Chris Paul, who has made an instant impact in Golden State. In four games, the point guard has a 41-to-6 assist to turnover ratio. Poole, meanwhile, has struggled in Washington and has already been the subject of multiple viral folly clips.
Both Green and Stephen Curry described this past summer as crucial in terms of developing bonds with the 2023-24 group. They played pickup games, held dinners and earned trust with one another. Curry said the blend of young players and veterans seems to fit better this year, and the groups’ familiarity with each other has helped early this season.
“What happened over the summer, the time we got to spend together as a group, the two or three times we all got together, were huge,” Curry said. “So we could kind of get the elephants out of the room.”
Thompson, an easygoing leader on the team, downplayed last year’s locker room issues.
“I think this year is great chemistry-wise, but last year was good as well,” Thompson said. I don’t think too much about chemistry. I think winning solves all.”
