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Draymond Green is not the factor Jordan Poole was traded to the Washington Wizards.
Golden State Warriors bulk guv Joe Lacob appeared on Tim Kawakami’s TK Show podcast and stated while the relationship in between Green and Poole was a prospective issue– Green infamously punched Poole at a practice prior to last season– it wasn’t the main factor for the trade (h/t Alex Espinoza of 95.7 The Game):
” I believe it’s reasonable to state that there was some level of issue moving forward, whether that was going to be something that would exercise. To be sincere with you, I believe it would have exercised and might have exercised. I believe it is reasonable to state that in order to make the group work next year, to make the numbers work and so on, somebody most likely was gon na be the odd guy out. It simply ended up– and it wasn’t prepared– that it was Jordan.”
Money was constantly going to end up being a concern for the Warriors, and the trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Green weren’t going anywhere.
Starting next season, Poole would have had a cap hit of $301 million, a figure that would have increased by about $2 million in each of the last 2 years in his offer. Curry, on the other hand, will have a $55 million cap hit in the 2024-25 project, Thompson will practically surely sign a profitable, possibly max extension, Green will be owed $241 million and Andrew Wiggins will make $262 million.
The advantage of dealing Poole in the trade that brought Chris Paul to San Francisco was that the veteran point player’s $30 million wage for next season is totally non-guaranteed, implying he can be launched without charge.
Given the huge payroll the group is dealing with when Thompson re-signs– and the NBA’s harsher charges for groups that continually go beyond the tax apron– making a relocation to reduce some monetary dedications made good sense.
Poole likewise didn’t put his finest foot forward in the 2022-23 project. While he balanced a career-high in scoring (204 percent), his performance on the offending end (43 percent from the field, 33.6 percent from 3) was even worse than his breakout season in 2021-22(448 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from 3).
His defense likewise left something to be wanted. Include the uncomfortable nature of his relationship with Green after the punch– and the Warriors were constantly going to bring Green back, provided his significance as the protective lynchpin and as an offending playmaker– and he was the rational prospect to be moved.
