Iguodala’s leadership key to helping Warriors move forward from Draymond’s practice punch

SAN FRANCISCO — When Andre Iguodala saw a report surface Wednesday night questioning Jordan Poole’s character as word spread about a physical altercation between Draymond Green and Poole at practice earlier that day, the 38-year-old veteran jumped to support the young guard.

“What we not gone do is talk crazy about my young fella JP… great character kid,” Iguodala tweeted. “Miss me with all that other bs… straight from the ‘SOURCE.’”

Iguodala also noted that he wasn’t taking sides in the fight.

“And it’s family business with my bro [Green],” Iguodala wrote in a follow-up tweet.

That was just the latest display of the intangible value Iguodala brings to the Warriors as he enters his 19th and final NBA season.

The Warriors might need Iguodala’s internal leadership now more than ever as they try to move forward from Green striking Poole — an incident caught on video that was released by TMZ Friday morning and viewed nearly 25 million times in the first 11 hours of its publication.

It’s up to Green to make this up to the team, which he embarrassed by allowing his emotions get the best of him. Only his actions and words will dictate what will happen next. It could take time for him to mend the relationships and trust altered by his actions.

But Stephen Curry, the team’s unquestioned leader, and Iguodala, the respected elder statesman, will have to help navigate the situation as it unfolds.

And this could be the ultimate test of the two’s leadership.

Part of the reasons Iguodala decided to unretire and re-sign with the Warriors for one more season the day before training camp opened was to strengthen Curry’s legacy and assist in mentoring the next generation of Warriors greats.

Iguodala is one of the most valued voices in the organization. He has the ears of every player in the locker room, including Green, Curry and Klay Thompson as well as those within management. He’s also been known to be a fierce advocate for his teammates.

Dealing with the damage control from the practice punch, though, will be a tall task for the Warriors’ leaders.

It’s unclear what triggered Green to lay one on Poole — not that there’s any excuse for it. A video of the incident shows the two talking before Green walks over to Poole and bumps him in the chest. Poole responded by pushing Green away, followed by Green taking a swing at Poole.

The two had to be separated after it looked like Green pinned Poole against the wall.

Iguodala immediately sprung into action and had numerous conversations with players and personnel, Curry said Thursday.

“He does an amazing job of saying all the right things at the right time to the right people,” Curry said. “That’s always been apparent, that value, it’s invaluable what he brings in on that front. I’m not going to sit here and catalog every conversation he had [Wednesday] but it was a lot in terms of bringing leadership and a presence to somebody whose voice is so respected across all the generations we have in our locker room and coaches and front office as well.”

Similar to Curry, Iguodala knows how to meet people where they’re at in certain moments. All the players respect Iguodala’s opinion and how he feels.

The Warriors believe they can get past this incident without allowing it to fester and become a season-long problem because of the winning culture they’ve built over the last decade.

“I have confidence it won’t erode the fabric of our team,” general manager Bob Myers said.

Iguodala has eight years of experience in the Warriors’ culture that he helped construct. If there’s anyone equipped to help Curry handle what comes next, it’s him.

“Andre is one of the great leaders I’ve ever been around, and one of the reasons we were so excited that he decided to come back this year was because we knew we were going to need his internal leadership,” coach Steve Kerr said.

Green will be punished internally for escalating what seemed like a normal in-practice occurrence to what would be an HR nightmare in any other job outside professional sports. He apologized to Poole and the team Thursday and is expected to return to practice Saturday. As of Thursday, Myers didn’t anticipate Green would miss any games.

Plenty of people had reactions to the video that surfaced of the punch, but the court of public opinion doesn’t matter. It’s whether the people inside the locker room feel Green’s apology was genuine and want to move past this.

The ball is in Green’s court. He needs to take responsibility for attacking Poole. But Iguodala and Curry will play a part in rebuilding team trust and morale as they prepare to defend their title this season.

“Its internal leadership from within the locker room is the most important within a team’s makeup,” Kerr said. “You have to have guys in the locker room who are leading and really kind of laying out the blueprint for how things have to be. So Andre does an amazing job with that. We’re going to need him this year for sure.”