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Eric Paschall had a productive first season with the Golden State Warriors but even though he was impressive, he still experienced a few rookie moments throughout the year.
Paschall recently revealed on the “Full 48” podcast with Howard Beck of Bleacher Report that his ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment came in his first preseason game. The Warriors played the Los Angeles Lakers that first game of the preseason on Oct. 5, which meant Paschall was tasked with guarding LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
As Paschall explained, he learned firsthand how strong James is.
My welcome to the NBA moment was my first preseason game and I didn’t expect to be the first one off of the bench so Coach Kerr was like, ‘Eric!’ He laughs in my face and just goes, ‘You got A.D.’ I had to guard A.D. and I had to guard LeBron. I feel like that was something that really helped me out with my confidence that he really had trust in me to go guard him.
I played alright. LeBron bullied me the first time. I thought I was a strong guy until I met him. That was kind of crazy. The next time, I bumped him just so he didn’t bully me again so I took a foul on that one. I feel like I ended up playing well against him.
Rookie players often talk about the difficulties of playing against James and the other superstars in the league. In fact, Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant previously mentioned one of his top moments came playing against Kyrie Irving, a player he looked up to.
Unfortunately for Paschall, his rookie season came to an end once the NBA approved the 22-team format to restart the season since the Warriors were not in the playoff picture.
Paschall has a strong chance to land on an All-NBA Team, though, so that may help make up for not playing.
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