The Golden State Warriors have extended their championship window through excellent drafting. While their recent picks came from the top of the lottery because of the 2 years of struggle the Warriors went through, most of their older picks are late first-round picks they have developed into successful players.
One of those players is Jordan Poole, who emerged as one of the best young players in the league last season, especially during the 2022 playoffs. The offensive wizard has shown heaps of scoring ability, but his coach Steve Kerr is waiting for him to unlock the defensive ability he showed flashes of during the Warriors title run in the postseason.
“I don’t know that he can do anything more to step up offensively,” Kerr said. “So the area where he can still improve is at the defensive end. I thought last year in the playoffs when he was fully engaged and really playing with physicality, he showed he can be a legit two-way player, but he knows he hasn’t become that consistently. And so that’s the next step for Jordan.” (h/t NBC Sports)
Will The Warriors Give Jordan Poole An Extension?
Poole is eligible to sign a rookie-scale extension and go into next offseason as a restricted free agent if the Warriors can’t extend him before October 17. While the Warriors will have the option to match any deal that Poole receives, they have an inflated salary cap and need to start figuring out how to maintain their current core together while also giving the players the contracts they deserve.
Draymond Green is already advocating for himself to get a max contract, something he has passed on before in favor of the team. With the expiring contracts of Poole and Andrew Wiggins, it is going to be tough for the Warriors to ensure they can pay all of these players.
Hopefully, Poole makes enough of a jump to prove to Kerr and the Warriors that he is worth keeping around in a backcourt with Stephen Curry, as the Warriors come closer to transitioning out of the most successful era in their team’s history.
