Golden State Warriors announce the Poole party is over. Rumors surface that some Golden State Warriors had problems with Jordan Poole.
In a blockbuster draft day trade, the Golden State Warriors traded 24-year-old guard Jordan Poole for 38-year-old veteran Chris Paul. This surprised the league, considering eight months ago, Poole signed a four-year, $123 million contract extension with the Warriors.
Poole's departure has less to do with poor postseason performance and more to do with improving team chemistry.
Warriors stars did not get along with Jordan Poole
NBA Insiders Bill Simmons and Logan Murdock recently revealed on The Bill Simmons Podcast that, "Jordan [Poole] was isolated from the group." Additionally, "All the established guys had some version of a problem with Jordan Poole, whether it was Klay ironically saying that Jordan doesn't pass the ball enough and shoots too much," Murdock said.
Last year's training camp altercation between Jordan Poole and Draymond Green tainted the Warriors' 2022-2023 season. Kerr credited the incident as the reason for the team's lack of culture and identity. After their second-round loss to the Lakers, Kerr told ESPN, "There's no hiding from it — the incident with Draymond and Jordan at the beginning of the year played a role in that." Kerr further stated, "It's hard for that not to impact a team."
When it comes to having the two coexist, clearly the organization wasn't comfortable taking that risk again. Lines were drawn in the sand and a week after Jordan Poole was traded, Draymond Green signed a four-year, $100 million contract.
Despite disappearing in the playoffs, Poole is coming off a career season. Through 82 games, he averaged 20.4 points and 4.5 assists per game, both of which are career highs. Perhaps a change of scenery and the green light to shoot 25 shots a game is exactly what Poole needs. Now, Poole has the opportunity to be the primary offensive option on a Wizards team focused on rebuilding.
