[Source Article by The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami – “The Warriors’ Chris Paul-Jordan Poole trade, all the options it opened it up, and what led them to do it”](https://theathletic.com/4642298/2023/06/28/warriors-chris-paul-jordan-poole-trade/?source=nbatw)
### What TK Heard (likely from the FO) about the Poole Trade:
> What’s clear to me after **a few days of checking around is that this all began when the Warriors decided that Poole was an extraneous and inefficient member of their roster.** That was the precipitating issue. The Warriors wanted out of the $123 million deal they gave Poole only eight months earlier because his play last season didn’t meet that value, especially given their extreme luxury-tax pressures. They knew he wanted a bigger role and they knew that almost certainly wouldn’t happen as long as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were on the team. The **Warriors weren’t going to give Poole away, but they were ready to move on if the right deal came along.**
>
> But it was now obvious — the Warriors were shopping Poole. Soon, the Warriors got in touch with the Wizards, and just like that, Paul, on a short-term deal, was headed to the Warriors as a reliable alternative ballhandler behind and alongside Curry and a mature presence in the locker room. The **Warriors achieved their goal: They got rid of Poole’s long-term money without making themselves worse (and probably actually got better) in the short term.**
### Warriors Tried to Trade Jordan Poole for OG Anunoby:
> 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](https://sports.yahoo.com/2023-nba-draft-how-serious-are-teams-taking-the-new-cba-even-the-big-spending-warriors-are-shedding-salary-061459899.html?guccounter=1), 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.
### Warriors Aiming to Not be a 2nd Apron Team by Next July:
> Warriors are aiming to drop below the second payroll apron by next July, which is when the most punitive aspects of the new CBA start hitting. They want their taxpayer midlevel exception back. They don’t want to be banned from being able to aggregate salaries in trades, and they don’t want their future first-round picks frozen. **They simply don’t want to get stuck in Second Apron Hell without many of the tools they’ve used in the past to add talent.**
### Just a List of [Ambitious and/or Realistic] FA Candidates Kawakami thinks Warriors can Target (This Part is Not Reporting):
*Read the article for the brief reasonings provided for each candidate*
**Top Targets**:
* Dario Šarić
* Yuta Watanabe
**Bigs**:
* Kevin Love
* Thomas Bryant
* (**Very Jokingly**) Thanasis Antekkokounmpo
**Good Chemistry + Vet Savvy Guys**:
* Juan Toscano-Anderson
* Damion Lee
* Rudy Gay
by NokCha_
10 Comments
I’ve always thought that people complaining that MDJ “only” got CP3 for poole didn’t realize that the FO probably did try other options, but redditors were overestimating what other orgs were willing to give us for him
People on this sub really overestimated Poole’s trade value, which is absolutely in the toilet. CP3 is probably the best possible return we could get for that representative of the slip n slide corporation.
I think its clear now the Warriors didn’t want to trade Kuminga.
I’ve wanted Rudy Gay for a while. I also wouldn’t mind Thomas Bryant.
With no MLE and no other real trade options with the Poole contract gone, a couple vet mins is all we have left. Which means all we can do is scrape the bottom of the barrel in FA. Might as well re-sign. J. Green.
It’s hard to be super excited about the possibility of contention with this roster. But with Steph we have a chance.
I feel like the Celtics are an easy team to match with in a trade. Try Brogdon. Agree San Antonio is a little more difficult.
Looking at the trade market, and guys like A Simons & Tyler Herro are on the market. Beal’s already been traded. D’angello Russel, Kyrie, FVV, and potentially Clarkson are all FAs.
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As Don Nelson said, small scoring guards are a dime a dozen in the NBA and this year seems like an even worse ‘sellers’ market so not surprised the Warriors didn’t have traction in Poole talks.
It feels like even if Poole did perform better last postseason, there is a good chance that he was s going to be moved due to how much this new CBA was going to penalise the team. I wonder if any reporters will come out about the players POV concerning the trade, we keep on hearing the business side of things
In my opinion MDJ will try and fill the roster with playmakers at every level — this will be the signature of his era.
Dumping Poole and acquiring CP3 will prove to be a master stroke.
The motion offense (and defense) were sub-optimal with Poole. Now they will both operate at optimal performance with CP3 and other vets who will be signed to minimum contracts.
I also feel that Kuminga taking a step this season — very likely with CP3 is inevitable.
I’m surprised there wasn’t more interest in Poole. His contract might be looked at as a steal in a few years. It’s hard to get guys who can score like him on the cheap. There’s a world where he commands top end salary by his next contract.
that Poole contract was an albatross
but it doesn’t sounded like our FO checked on Porzingis tbh, no reports at all about that
Poole would have been a lot easier to move at like $10m… just saying.