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On Friday, NBA Twitter once again found itself thrust into chaos after TMZ released a video that proved this week’s altercation between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole at practice was a tad more serious than most of us were initially led to believe.
It didn’t take long for the Take Factory to ramp up production as plenty of people began to debate which of the two men deserved the bulk of the blame, got very up in arms about someone inside the Warriors organization having the nerve to leak the video, and attempted to minimize the situation by pointing out this is far from the first time two teammates have gotten into it.
A punch like this happened in the NBA at least a hundred times before … including Michael Jordan clocking a teammate named Steve Kerr.
What hasn't happened before is video of the punch leaking to the world … which makes this a chapter unlike any these Warriors have faced.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 7, 2022
That last group includes multiple members of the Chicago Bulls; Steve Kerr and Michael Jordan exchanged blows during training camp in 1996 (which the man who now coaches Green and Poole once described as “the best thing that I ever did”), while Bobby Portis was notably suspended for eight games after sending Nikola Mirotić to the hospital when they got into it at practice in 2017.
However, Portis (who currently plays for the Bucks) is not here for any comparisons between that situation and what unfolded earlier this week.
Bobby Portis shut down a comparison between his altercation with Nikola Mirotić and the incident involving Jordan Poole and Draymond Green
After the clip of Green and Poole surfaced on Friday, ESPN‘s Bobby Marks attempted to provide some context concerning the NBA’s policy pertaining to physical altercations between teammates and used the aforementioned Portis-Mirotić melee to highlight the approach the Warriors could take.
Portis was suspended 8 games by the Bulls (not the NBA) for punching Mirotic during practice.
Mirotic suffered a concussion and facial fractures.
He missed 23 regular season games. https://t.co/0tpi6RqWmC
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 7, 2022
However, Portis made it very clear he disagreed with Chicago’s decision and was not a fan of being compared to Green (whose punch has been widely characterized as a “cheap shot”) by stressing he was “defending himself” and posting some details highlighting why his situation wasn’t the same.
I got 8 games for simply defending myself Bobby. I think it’s a lot different. IMO https://t.co/ykEDMbj5Vo pic.twitter.com/47OU0Y6lLC
— Bobby BP Portis (@BPortistime) October 7, 2022
I guess that settles that.