Draymond’s Trigger

Being a die-hard Golden State Warriors fan for 4 decades, I’ve used their successes (and failures) as cases in my study of organizational culture, leadership, and emotional intelligence. Here’s my take on the Jordan Poole – Draymond Green mix-up from the perspective of emotional intelligence.

Many have labeled Draymond as the heart of the team, its emotional leader. Shouldn’t that require some EQ? Socking a teammate certainly doesn’t demonstrate leadership or EQ. And unfortunately, just as it is in many organizations, “stars” are given a Get Out of Jail Free card for bad behavior because the availability of their skills is deemed more important than being a team player. I’m personally disappointed that Warrior management tossed the burden of a hard decision to Jordan on whether to suspend him or not. If anyone showed any EQ, it was the young Warrior. While that was very unfair, maybe that was just the setup for their next move.

Draymond is easily triggered. He lets himself get emotionally highjacked. We’ve seen what that has cost the Warriors. Lost games. Lost championships.

Emotional triggers tell us which aspects of our life frustrate or make us uncomfortable or angry. As we mature emotionally, we learn to recognize, face, and neutralize our triggers, in that order. What triggered Draymond to do something so emotionally immature? To me, it appears to be resentment. At the moment of the punch, could Draymond have been resentful that Jordan was more likely to be first to get his desired contract extension, decreasing the probability he’ll get what he wants? Which came to pass a week later. Jordan has been offered a four-year contract extension netting him $140 million. Taking a punch was worth it.

Throwing a punch has done the opposite for Draymond. After signing extensions for both Andrew Wiggins and Jordan, the Warriors are unlikely to give Draymond the max he wants, so it’s looking like he’ll be a free agent in 2024. There may not be many takers for a volatile star with declining skills. I love Draymond and hope that he leverages his last 2 years as a Warrior to either demonstrate he can truly be the heart of the team or embrace this aspect of himself as a feature of his future career in media.