Draymond Green On Indefinite Leave After Violent Altercation With Warriors Teammate

Draymond Green is stepping away from the Golden State Warriors for an unknown number of days after he violently punched teammate Jordan Poole during a team practice Wednesday.

On Saturday, the four-time NBA champion announced his plans to take some time off and focus on self-improvement after apologizing to his teammate and the Warriors, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Green, who had been scheduled to rejoin the team for practice Saturday, said he expects to play in the Warriors' season opener on Oct. 18. However, he said he is unsure of his status as well as how long he will be away, according to the outlet.

Head coach Steve Kerr told reporters that Green's leave was mutually agreed upon by team officials and the player, AP reported.

According to Kerr, there is "no set date" for when Green will be back. His return date will be determined after private discussions among everyone involved, the coach said.

Earlier this week, an initial report said that Green "forcefully struck" Poole during a heated argument Wednesday.

Two days after the incident, a video was leaked by TMZ showing that Green had approached Poole until they came chest-to-chest. Poole used both hands to push Green away, and then Green punched his teammate in the face and sent the guard into the wall behind the baseline.

The 23-year-old, who, like Green, is in the middle of contract talks with the Warriors, was not injured in the altercation.

Green clarified that the incident had nothing to do with their contract situation. He said that he had been dealing with something "hurtful" that day, according to AP.

Explaining his decision to take a leave of absence, Green said he is giving Poole and the Warriors space and time to heal from the incident and focus on defending their title.

Green called himself "a very flawed human being" and said he intends to use his time away to work on ways to better deal with his emotions.

Green also publicly apologized to Poole and his team during a nearly 40-minute news conference after the footage leaked.

"No. 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," the four-time All-Star said. "I 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's family."

Kerr, for his part, challenged the Warriors organization to do a better job when it comes to preventing leaks.

"When things are kept internally it's really almost easy to handle, it's just so much cleaner and smoother and you can move forward," the four-time NBA champion coach said. "As soon as things are leaked now all hell breaks loose and that affects every single player ... we're having to answer all of these questions and it puts us in a very difficult spot, everybody in a very difficult spot."

He continued, "I watched the video 15 times, maybe more. Because when I watch the video I'm looking at the video and I'm like: 'Yo, 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."