Before the Warriors meet the Wizards on Tuesday, here’s everything you need to know about the game, including how to watch.
After closing a three-game homestand with a disappointing loss to the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Sunday, the Golden State Warriors set out on a four-game road swing with their first stop in Washington on Tuesday.
For the second time this season, the Warriors will line up against former teammate Jordan Poole. The former Golden State first-round pick is coming off a 30-point performance in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
To start their road trip, the Warriors will welcome back veteran point guard Chris Paul. After missing games since Jan. 5 due to a hand injury, Paul is set to make his return to Steve Kerr’s rotation on Tuesday in Washington.
Before the Warriors meet Poole, Kyle Kuzman and the Wizards, here’s everything you need to know for Tuesday’s game, including how to watch.
The Golden State Warriors head coach regrets how things ended with Jordan Poole.
Steve Kerr has revealed his regrets about how Jordan Poole‘s tenure with the Golden State Warriors ended. The sharpshooting guard joined the Warriors as the 28th overall pick in the 2019 draft. He quickly developed in Golden State’s system, becoming a prominent member of the rotation and an important part of the team’s run toward the 2022 NBA championship,
However, Poole’s tenure with the franchise soured. The incident with Draymond Green was an issue Golden State spent a season trying to get from under, and Poole’s growing desire to become a more featured member of the offense was clearly another factor in the Warriors choosing to move on from him this summer.
“I just hate the way it ended for Jordan here, because he is a huge success story,” Kerr said. “For us and for him, this was a great marriage. He helped us win a title. We helped him, you know, become a champion and a guy who signed a big contract, life-changing contract. It was all wildly successful. But I hate the way it ended.”
Poole was ultimately traded to the Washington Wizards as part of the deal that sent Chris Paul to the Bay Area. The 2022 champion is now Washington’s primary ball-handler and offensive option but is clearly still adapting to his new role and teammates.
Jordan Poole returns to face the Warriors on Friday night. I talked to Poole, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Steve Kerr and Kevon Looney about Poole's tenure with the Warriors.
In 26 games, Poole is averaging 17.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists while shooting 41.2% from the field and 31.7% from 3-point range. Nevertheless, players usually find a new gear when facing a former team, which means Golden State will need to be ready for a potential breakout performance from their former guard.
It’s a real shame things had to go down between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole this way.
Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
What’s popping, family? Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you.
I wanted to chat a bit about the irony of Draymond Green missing Jordan Poole’s homecoming at Chase Center on Friday night when the Wizards play the Warriors.
Now, it’s obvious these two don’t like each other. The lingering effect from the punch hasn’t gone away. It’s been rehashed over and over again over the last year with a bunch of memes and jokes that have come with it. And, look, I get it. Looking back on it, there’s certainly some humor to find there. I mean, who among us didn’t laugh at this Draymond Green edit of Jordan Poole slipping on the floor? That’s funny, y’all.
But, honestly, thinking about the circumstances today made me kind of sad.
It’s not that Jordan Poole needed to stay in Golden State forever. It seemed obvious that he had ambitions that were probably never going to be quelled by playing his entire career with the Warriors. Poole getting dealt was for the best — especially considering the chemistry hit to the Warriors last season.
But what’s profoundly sad about this to me is that now, it’s clear, that Jordan Poole was never really the problem.
Poole is gone. The chemistry still stinks. Draymond Green is still having these violent incidents — except now they’re on the court instead of in practice. Poole might have been the issue of the day when Draymond Green socked him, sure. He could’ve said something or done something that drew Green’s ire. But it’s obvious now that he wasn’t the issue.
Now this moment shared between both of them has completely reshaped their careers. Green is an obvious Hall of Famer, but the first folks will talk about when they bring him up in, say, 10 years will probably be all of these incidents. He won’t be able to shake that.
For Poole, he’s turned into the NBA’s latest whipping boy. It’s easy to make fun of him now. Every time he makes a mistake on the court, it becomes a joke. Surely, you’ve seen the “I understand, Draymond” tweets by now. They’re crass and silly. But they’ll probably follow him for the rest of his career.
Maybe someday they’ll be able to break free from the stigma the incident between the two of them has left. Friday would’ve been an amazing opportunity to do so with them both on the court together at the same time.
Unfortunately, though, that won’t happen this time.
Where have all the buzzer beaters gone?
Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports
If it feels like you haven’t seen as many buzzer-beating shots to win games so far this season, you’re not tripping. You haven’t.
Ja Morant’s buzzer-beating layup to put the Pelicans away was just the second shot of its kind so far this season, per our Bryan Kalbrosky. We’re on pace for just about six (!!!!) buzzer-beaters so far this season. That’s criminally low.
“Just three days prior, Miami’s Jimmy Butler hit the only other buzzer-beater we have seen during the 2023-24 campaign. Based on how many games the NBA schedule has had so far, that means the league is on pace for around six buzzer-beaters this season.
That is significant according to the database at Basketball Reference, which tracks all of the shots made when the shooter’s team was tied or trailing and left no time on the clock after it went through.”
This is the weirdest thing. There’s no explanation behind it or nothing instructive as to why this isn’t happening. It’s just…not happening.
Maybe we’ll see more as the season progresses. I hope so, anyway. Bring me the drama!
Becky Hammon doesn’t have to explain herself
Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
I can’t believe Becky Hammon took to Twitter to explain to folks why Jalen Brunson probably can’t be the best player on a championship team. It’s obvious why — he’s too small!
That’s exactly what she said. That’s what NBA history says, too. Yet, so many folks out there took exception to what she said.
Just like me, Meghan Hall is extremely annoyed by this. She wrote about it. Here are her words.
“In case you’re not familiar with Becky Hammon, as a player, she was a bronze Olympic medalist and a six-time WNBA All-Star. As a coach, she won WNBA Coach of the Year honors in 2022 and has led her team to back-to-back WNBA Championships. She’s also a Hall of Famer.
In other words, SHE’S QUALIFIED TO SPEAK ON BASKETBALL.
…
Yet, Thursday evening, Hammon clarified her comments because the internet had thoughts and took exception to a woman speaking on men’s basketball. Be better, internet. Be better.”
Couldn’t have said it better. Some of y’all need to relax, man. Let Becky cook. If y’all make Becky do this again we’re going to have to fight.
Before the Warriors host Jordan Poole and the Wizards on Friday, here’s everything you need to know about the game, including how to watch.
For the first time since their blockbuster trade over the offseason, the Golden State Warriors will welcome Jordan Poole and the Washington Wizards to San Francisco on Friday evening. Friday’s contest will mark Poole’s first appearance against his former team.
Before suiting up against Poole, the Warriors are coming one of their most impressive victories of the season amid a much-needed three-game win streak. Steph Curry caught fire late, scoring 33 points in a thrilling overtime win over the Boston Celtics.
Before the Warriors meet Poole and the Wizards on Friday, here’s everything you need to know about the game, including how to watch.
Before he returns to San Francisco’s Chase Center with the Wizards, here’s a look back at some of Jordan Poole’s top performances with the Warriors.
While his time in the Bay Area will likely be overshadowed by his preseason incident with Draymond Green, Jordan Poole’s stint with the Golden State Warriors featured a run to a championship and an impressive climb from the G League to a focal point in Steve Kerr’s rotation.
Poole was selected in the first round of the 2019 NBA draft out of Michigan by Bob Myers and the Warriors. Poole struggled as a rookie and early as a sophomore, leading to a trip to the G League. However, after a stop in Santa Clara, Poole blossomed.
The former Wolverine turned into a dangerous scorer alongside Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in Golden State’s backcourt, contributing heavily during the Warriors’ run to a championship in 2022.
During the 2023 offseason, Poole was traded to the Washington Wizards in a package that sent veteran point guard Chris Paul to Golden State. During his four-year stint in the Bay Area, Poole averaged 15.8 points on 42.1% shooting from the field to go along with 3.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game.
On Friday, Poole will make his return to San Francisco’s Chase Center when the Warriors host the Wizards. Before Poole suits up against his former team, here’s a look at some of his top performances with the Warriors from the regular season.
Poole was traded to the Wizards earlier this year after a successful stint with Golden State, where he won a championship in 2020. But the Wizards have not exactly gotten championship-caliber play out of Poole.
That includes mysteriously slipping during a game against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. The fall was so out of sorts that it took the internet by surprise, prompting one fan to provide their own explanation as to what happened.
The Golden State Warriors are last in the NBA for transition points per game.
The Golden State Warriors currently rank 30th in the NBA for transition points per game, averaging 14.6. They give up 22.2 points per game when defending teams on the break, placing them 19th in the league. Considering Steve Kerr has multiple young talents at his disposal, the lack of fast-break offense has become a burden on a Warriors team that sits 12th in pace.
Recently, John Schuhmann of NBA.com looked at the Warriors’ struggles with transition offense and made a keen observation. Schuhmann noted that while Golden State has been better on both sides of the floor with Chris Paul in the rotation, Jordan Poole‘s pace of play has left a hole in the roster when looking to get out on the break.
“Overall, the addition of [guard] Chris Paul has been a positive for the Warriors, who’ve been better, both offensively and defensively, with him on the floor,” Schuhmann wrote. “But when it comes to transition, there’s a big difference between Jordan Poole and the future Hall-of-Famer who replaced him.”
Poole hasn’t enjoyed the greatest of starts to his new life with the Washington Wizards. However, his ability to run the floor and provide scoring gravity was a weapon the Warriors knew how to utilize. Kerr may choose to start looking at some of his younger talents to help fill Poole’s former role on the break.
Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody could both be potential candidates when on the court. Regardless of how Kerr looks to solve his team’s lack of transition scoring, it’s clear Golden State needs to improve their transition scoring as the season continues.
As a Wizards fan, I feel pretty confident in saying that things haven’t gone well at all for the team this season. Honestly, that’s probably an understatement.
The team is currently 2-7 and easily one of the worst teams in the NBA. Of course, nobody expected the team to be good after trading away Bradley Beal.
But, man, to be this bad? It’s kind of embarrassing. Washington has blown so many leads. The team has been awful in fourth quarter after fourth quarter. The goal isn’t to win games right now, clearly, but man. Does it have to be this bad?
A big part of the problem has been someone who was supposed to be part of the solution — Jordan Poole.
It’s still early in the season, but Poole just hasn’t been very good so far this season. He’s shooting 41 percent from the field this year and 30 percent from deep. That’s not good enough for someone who was just talking about the Wizards as his “own team.”
Poole clearly isn’t playing this badly on purpose. And it’s reasonable to think that he’d be frustrated as some of this is going on. But it’s not a good look when that frustration boils over for everyone to see.
The Golden State Warriors head coach believes multiple factors affected Golden State’s chances of success last season.
Before the Golden State Warriors began their 2022-23 season, their roster was shrouded in controversy. The altercation between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole had become a major topic for sports fans worldwide.
Golden State never broke through that cloud and found it difficult to rediscover the unity that had made them such a tough roster to contend with over the past decade.
“I think it’s unfair for people to just point at Jordan,” Kerr said. “That’s wrong. Last year went haywire for a lot of different reasons. Jordan was fantastic while he was here. He helped us win a championship. I hate that he gets any criticism. Last year went wrong for a number of reasons, and we all share the blame for that. … I think last year, we were just overloaded with youth and trying to develop too many people at the same time. It was unfair to all of the young guys that we had so many of them at one time.”
To begin the 2023-24 season, the Warriors have rediscovered the chemistry that has allowed them to be such a dominant force in the NBA. If they can continue to work as a unit and play for the good of the team, their chances of success will improve tremendously.
Kerr says it’s unfair to blame Jordan Poole for last year’s struggles
Poole recently caught the attention of the NBA community when he attempted Steph Curry’s signature no-look 3-pointer against the Memphis Grizzlies over the weekend.
The former Golden State first round draft pick made headlines with another must-see attempt on Monday against the Boston Celtics. Trailing by 15-points in the first quarter against the Celtics, Poole brought the ball up the court before casually turning around to attempt a 3-pointer. However, 7-foot-2 Kristaps Porzingis was waiting. The Celtics big man easily swatted Poole’s attempt from beyond the arc.
