Draymond Green’s sucker punch to the face of teammate Jordan Poole during practice has been the buzz of the NBA preseason. But what will it mean for the Warriors when the games count?

Not much, thinks Kevin Durant.

Durant has the unique perspective of having been Green’s teammate on Golden State and having been involved in his own altercation with the combustible Warriors forward. Early in the 2018-19 season, Durant and Green infamously got into a shouting match on the sideline during a game against the Clippers and DeMarcus Cousins had to drag Green away, with the incident eventually carrying over into the locker room afterward.

“That’s not the same situation,” Durant told ESPN. “Somebody got punched in the face … It’s no comparison to that.

“It was just some words that being — I heard people say that that happens a lot in the NBA. I had never seen nothing like that before. But what me and Draymond did a few years back, that s–t happens all the time. So it’s easy to get through something like that, but I don’t know what this situation is like.”

Durant and Green eventually repaired their relationship, but the altercation, Durant later admitted, played a role in his decision to leave the organization for free agency after that season, despite three trips to the NBA Finals in three years there, including two championships and a Finals MVP. 

Though Poole was drafted by Golden State in 2019, he and Durant were never teammates as Durant signed with the Nets that summer. Still, they’re friendly given mutual relationships with members of the Warriors’ coaching staff.

Durant added that he also hasn’t spoken to Green, who has been away from the team since the incident but was expected to return Thursday.

“It seems cool, everybody’s back to normal,” Durant said. “Draymond is playing next game, Jordan was playing last game. So I guess it’s back to normal. Anything around our sport that doesn’t just involve the game of basketball — once it gets to that type of stuff, I try to stay away from it. It has nothing to do with anybody else but those people in the locker room.”

Now the only question that remains is whether this incident will hang over Golden State, coming off its fourth championship in eight years, the way the Durant-Green saga did.

In Durant’s 15-plus years in the NBA, he said he’s never seen another player get punched the way Poole did.

“It’s rare,” Durant said. “It’s rare. I’ve been in the league 16 years, and I’ve never seen that until the other day on camera. You hear about it with MJ [Michael Jordan] and you hear about it with Bobby Portis, but there’s nothing that’s happening every year. It’s very rare that something like that happens.

“It’s none of our business. But it happened to be part of our daily conversation because we’ve seen the videos. We’ve all got our opinions, but to be honest, mine’s don’t matter. It is what it is.”

The Warriors open their season Tuesday against the Lakers.