Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has confirmed that star Draymond Green will be fined by the team after punching team-mate Jordan Poole in a practice session - but he won't be suspended.
The shocking incident was caught on camera, with Green flooring Poole after a heated argument between the two lead to the four-time NBA champion Green approaching before the former pushes him with Green quickly reacting and throwing a vicious right-hand.
Green has apologised for the incident, stating that he was embarrassed after the footage was leaked to American outlet TMZ last week. The forward also apologised directly to Poole's parents for the punch.
The 32-year-old has been away from the team after the incident, with Coach Kerr confirming that he will not return until Thursday and that he has been fined - but did not confirm how much he'd been done so, but did name the incident a 'crisis'.
Kerr said: "He will come back to practice on Thursday. He has been fined and not suspended and we expect to play on Friday. We have been in conversations with Jordan Poole, Draymond, Steph Curry and all of our key figures.
"I can tell you there has been a lot of conversations, players only, one on one's - a lot of conversations in this exhaustive process. We have a great feel for our team, we have a lot of continuity and we feel this is the correct way.
"This is the biggest crisis we have ever had - it's some real serious stuff."
Green is in final year of his contract with the Warriors but does have an option to prolong his deal for a further year, but it now looks like that he'll decline this option in an attempt to get a long-term deal - which could be away from the Warriors.
Green has spent his entire career in northern California with Golden State, playing a key role in their four championships and six NBA finals in the last eight years.
But earlier this week, ESPN First Take host Stephen A. Smith reported that he expects Green to join the Los Angeles Lakers to team up with former rival turned friend LeBron James.
