Before the Warriors traded Jordan Poole for Chris Paul in one of the most jaw-dropping moves of the offseason, they toyed with the idea of trading him to three different teams.
A week ago, the Golden State Warriors sent guard Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards in return for Chris Paul in a trade that shook up the West.
The Warriors gave up their young starlet along with some extra assets to secure a much-needed piece for their championship-caliber roster: a veteran guard like Paul who can take over Poole's spot off the bench and provide more reliable offensive production.
The Poole-Paul trade nonetheless poses a few questions in its wake, the primary of which is the same as the quintessential chicken and the egg debate. As The Athletic's Tim Kawakami (subscription required) writes, which idea came first, landing Chris Paul or unloading Jordan Poole?
It was the latter.
Per Kawakami, the Warriors had already decided that Poole was an "extraneous and inefficient member of their roster" after Poole's abysmal playoff performance this year. His contentious rift with Draymond Green didn't help, either.
Wanting out of the meg-deal they gave Poole in 2022, the Warriors' front office apparently started to shop Poole to several teams this summer.
The three teams the Warriors called before the Wizards were the Raptors, Celtics, and Spurs.
Warriors considered trading Poole to Raptors, Celtics, and Spurs
"One of the Warriors' calls, I'm told, was to check with Toronto about a proposal centering on Poole for 25-year-old forward OG Anunoby. But the Raptors weren't interested. According to Yahoo Sports' Jake Fischer, the Warriors also had talks with the Celtics and had interest from the Spurs, though it's hard to come up with good trade matches for Poole on either team."
Considering the feeble returns Golden State may have gotten from those three teams, their deal with the Wizards appears much more enticing in the rearview mirror.
For one, the Warriors get rid of Poole's undesirable contract. They have money for future extensions (Klay), and they have money to potentially sign Draymond Green to a multi-year deal. With Poole out and Paul in, that feels like a near-certain occurrence.
The Warriors also give themselves breathability with Paul's one-year, $30.8 million deal. They found a dependable — albeit unlikable — ballhandler with more maturity and less recklessness than Poole. This trade has all the markings of a savvy deal aimed to help the Warriors win now, in the twilight years of the Curry-Klay-Green dynasty. Despite an early initiation, Poole has rather unceremoniously been booted out of the core group — and besides, he can get more minutes on the Wizards next season.
It doesn't feel shocking that the Warriors tried to deal Poole to several other teams. It's just good business acumen, really. The franchise wanted to assess all its options before landing on the most suitable choice, which ended up being, essentially, a 38-year-old upgrade from Poole. Just think: they could have done much worse.