Following a disappointing end to their 2022-23 NBA season, the Golden State Warriors made the decision to trade Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards in return for Chris Paul. The decision came almost a year after the incident between Draymond Green and Poole.
When speaking on a recent episode of ‘The TK Show,’ Warriors owner Joe Lacob shed some light on the decision-making process that went into trading away the young sharpshooting guard. Lacob noted how the front office knew somebody was going to be the ‘odd man out’; they just didn’t know Poole would be that guy.
Buy Warriors Tickets“I think it’s fair to say that there was some level of concern going forward, whether that was going to be something that would work out,” Lacob told The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami (h/t to Alex Espinoza of 95.7 The Game for the transcription.) To be honest with you, I think it would have worked out and could have worked out. But I think it is fair to say that in order to make the team work next year, to make the numbers work and so on, someone probably was gonna be the odd man out. It just turned out—and it wasn’t planned—that it was Jordan.”
Poole will now get a fresh start with the Wizards, where he can grow into his new role as a focal point of the offense. The Warriors get a veteran star guard to improve their second unit and guard rotation. The deal might have been a difficult one to stomach, but it’s certainly one that likely needed to happen.
