One of the biggest shocks of this 2023 offseason came when the Golden State Warriors decided to trade Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards for Chris Paul. Just days prior to that trade, GM Mike Dunleavy had even stated that the team wanted Poole around for the next four years.
So what exactly was going on behind the scenes? Well, during an appearance on The Ringer’s “NBA Show”, Stephen Curry explained that everything changed very quickly from his perspective regarding Poole’s future with the team.
“From my standpoint, it was extremely fast,” Curry said. “It was pretty dead after we lost to the (Los Angeles) Lakers, watching the rest of the playoff run and watching the Finals, watching Denver win, then you’re looking at, ‘Alright, what other moves are happening around the league?’ You’re always keeping tabs on what’s going on.”
It would be just under two weeks before the deal was done that Curry began hearing about it. He revealed he was asked about his thoughts on playing with Paul and that’s when he knew time might be up for Poole.
“And so probably honestly like 10 days or so before the deal happened, you start to hear conversations of the decision tree,” Curry continued. “We’re trying to sign Draymond (Green), we’re trying to get some more experience in the locker room because we know we needed that to be a lot deeper team, and the CP trade happens, and it’s like, ‘Oh would you consider the option of playing with him?’ and it’s like, that makes a lot of sense in terms of connecting a lot of rotations, but what does that mean? And what that means is a tough decision with JP.”
Curry stated the team had to decide what their identity was and what their focus was going to be, and they went with their core in order to win now.
“So it happened really fast in the sense of, again, you’re reacting to what’s going on in the league and what options are out there, and every team goes through a scenario where you have to kind of plant your flag on who you are and what your identity is and what you’re really investing and committing to,” Curry added. “And for us, it was the core. For us, it was trying to establish us again as a title team. I feel like we’re that, we just have to go execute it now.”
(starts at 14:33 mark):
With this move, the Warriors have gone all in. There is no longer a two-timeline approach, and they’ll just try to win as much as they can with their Big 3 and then just rebuild after that. It might be the right way to go about it, but time will tell.
Charles Barkley Felt The Warriors Hated Jordan Poole
While Curry explained how it was all just about Paul being a better fit with their core, Charles Barkley thinks there is more to it. When asked about the trade, Barkley stated that he felt the Warriors hated Poole.
We have heard an awful lot after this trade about Poole’s poor relationship with a lot of individuals behind the scenes. It was reported that the likes of Klay Thompson had issues with him and we all know about the Draymond Green situation.
A Warriors insider had also stated that head coach Steve Kerr was fed up with Poole’s antics. It just seems like the situation was spiraling out of control behind the scenes and a change had to be made.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
