Someone has to go.
The Warriors cost too much and won too little to run back the entire roster again in 2023-24.
So who’s going to be shown the door this summer?
I know we’re all thinking the same thing.
Jordan Poole’s playoffs were a disaster. His regular season wasn’t much better. This past offseason, the Warriors bet $128 million that Poole would be an elite sixth man, but with that four-year extension poised to start his upcoming season, the deal he signed looks more like hush money following Draymond Green’s punch of the guard.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said this week that he still believes Poole is a foundational player on this team, but did he seem “foundational” in the postseason, when his scoring prowess was needed? He averaged 8.3 points per game in the playoff series with the Lakers.
“The playoffs are nothing like the regular season. They are two completely different sports,” Warriors president of basketball operations (for now) Bob Myers said at the 2019 Sloan Analytics Conference. “You watch the playoffs, you’ll know who can play basketball — that’s when you evaluate players.”
To be fair, Poole can play. He’s put up 30-point games in the playoffs before. He was a 20-point-per-game player in the regular season. The talent and work ethic is there.
But he’s neither consistent nor particularly efficient (51.4 effective field goal percentage). He’s an alpha on a team that long ago filled that role.
And what the Warriors need more than a mercurial sixth man is some solid depth and versatility. This team’s stars — save for Curry — need more support if a fifth banner will be raised in the Chase Center rafters anytime soon.
With the mid-level exception no longer available to the league’s highest spenders under the new collective bargaining agreement, and with Donte DiVincenzo all but certain to exit the Dubs for a larger payday elsewhere, the need to turn one big contract into several mid-sized contracts has never been greater for Golden State.
Poole is a polarizing player, which was reflected in my conversations with people around the league about trading him.
There was enough love, though, that I believe a win-win deal will be made this summer.
Here are three suggestions:
» Poole to Toronto for O.G. Anunoby, Thaddeus Young
[Patrick Baldwin Jr., draft picks to TOR]
The Raptors have plenty of defense. They need to add some offense.
The Warriors aren’t totally set on offense, but they need another 3-and-D player (or two).
This trade gives both teams what they want.
Now, Anunoby is a more valuable player than Poole, so the Warriors will need to toss in some draft picks.
Remember: The Warriors tried for Anunoby — who was on the NBA’s All-Defense team this season while averaging 16 points per game — at the NBA’s trade deadline but didn’t gain much traction. I think there’s more grip to be found in the offseason.
— Poole to Utah for Kelly Olynyk and Jordan Clarkson
Talent will get you into the NBA. Humility keeps you in it.
Poole is yet to learn that lesson. He’s not keen on the role he is asked to play in Golden State.
The two players coming from the Jazz know exactly what their roles are.
So while the Jazz bet on Poole’s upside here, the Warriors turn his contract into two players who can help off the bench.
Clarkson can come close to replacing Poole’s offensive output. If nothing else, he’s proven he can play the sixth-man, offensive firecracker role. Olynyk gives the Dubs the stretch-5 they needed this past postseason.
The Warriors would also shave two million off their luxury tax bill.
— Poole to Washington for Kristaps Porzingis
Why not get your 3-and-D in the form of a 7-foot-3 center?
The Warriors would have to add some salary for this season, as Porzingis is due $36 million this upcoming season (if he opts into his player option), but trading Poole for him gives the Warriors the opportunity to clear a big contract off the books this time next season, should they desire.
I’ve long disliked Porzingis’ game, but this past season for the Wizards, he was undeniably awesome, averaging 23 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and a steal per game on an effective field goal percentage of 56.
He could provide a two-way dynamic to the Warriors that they have lacked under Kerr.
And while I am skeptical that Bradley Beal and Poole would be an effective backcourt, there are simply too many people around the league who say this deal could happen to ignore.
— Poole to the Knicks for RJ Barrett
This is a classic “we don’t know what to do with these guys” trade.
But the Warriors would get a larger player with two-way upside. (At the very least, he’s switchable.) The Knicks would get a possible box-office player that can take creation pressure of Jalen Brunson.
Oh, and Golden State would cut nearly $5 million off its luxury tax bill, too.
There are shades of the Andrew Wiggins for D’Angelo Russell trade here, with Barrett being the Wiggins in this iteration.
That worked out pretty well for the Dubs, didn’t it?
