[Slater] Jordan Poole, Steve Kerr, Kevon Looney, Klay Thompson, & Steph Curry reflects on JP’s Time as a Warrior – Poole: “Successful time. Won a championship. Played with Loon. Played with some of the greatest ever. Played with Wiggins. Met great guys. The staff is good. It was a cool experience”

[Source Article by The Athletic’s Anthony Slater – “‘Hate the way it ended for Jordan’: Poole, Warriors reflect on Golden State tenure and its end”](https://theathletic.com/5149477/2023/12/21/jordan-poole-golden-state-warriors/)

 

### Jordan Poole Reflects on his Time as a Dub:

> “**Successful time**,” Poole said. “Learned a lot. Can’t ask for too much more than that. **Won a championship. Played with Loon. Played with some of the greatest ever. Played with (Andrew Wiggins). Met great guys. The staff is good. It was a cool experience**. It was just dope to accomplish something you’ve been looking for your entire life, winning a championship at the highest level, seeing what that takes.”

*Followed by the One of the Quickest Back-and-forth Between Poole & Slater*:

> **Slater**: How do you look back on the final season there and how everything went sideways?
>
> **Poole**: “Next question”
>
> **Slater**: Is there any level of regret about how any of it unfolded?
>
> **Poole**: “Nah”
>
> **Slater**: Were you upset with the Warriors at all about the way they handled the situation?
>
> **Poole**: “I can honestly say that I haven’t thought about it. I haven’t put too much thought into it.”
>
> **Slater**: What came from it?
>
> **Poole**: “I learned that I’m built for tougher. I think that was pretty dope. I mean, being at the highest level, you get just, like, so much media, so much of everything just being with that organization. It made me realize I was built for a lot tougher.”
>
> **Slater**: Do you still watch them?
>
> **Poole**: “If the game is on”

*On how it feels coming back to his old home*:

> “I’ve never had the opportunity to go back and play somewhere where I used to play,” Poole said. “**So yeah, kind of just going in, and it should be cool. Spent four years there.**”

 

### Jordan Poole’s Favorite Game as a Warrior – 2022 West Semi-finals Game 1 vs Memphis (also was Kerr’s favorite Poole game):

> [Poole identified his favorite game with the Warriors as Game 1 in Memphis. **So did Kerr.**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1HQYHMN0rc) “Oh, yeah, when we played Tyus (Jones) and them,” Poole said pointing to Jones, now his teammate, at an adjacent locker. “Especially with it being on the road.”

 

### Steve Kerr on Jordan Poole’s Time as a Dub:

*On the Draymond Punch*

> “**I look back at that, and I hate that it happened**,” Kerr said. “**I know that in my heart, that when (the punch) happened, we handled it the best way we thought we could handle it. But in hindsight** — and hindsight is always 20/20 — we could have done better for sure. I just hate the way it ended for Jordan here, because he is a huge success story. 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’s work ethic during the pandemic*

> “**He worked his ass off, earned everything, had to learn the hard way,**” Kerr said. “Threw him into the deep end right away, and he struggled. Pandemic year was hard on everybody. Then once the gym opened back up, he was in here every day. I always love when young guys learn from experience and figure out, ‘OK, this is what I have to do.’ And then he went and did it.”

*On the 3rd Season (Championship Season)*

> “**He was amazing**,” Kerr said. “There were a number of games where he just got caught fire and carried us when we desperately needed it. I remember a game in Phoenix early in the year. I think he had 28 or something at halftime and just went ballistic. **It was like we had a new toy. The guys on the team felt like, ‘Oh, man, we got another guy who can go get it.’ It changed our outlook**. We were hoping we were a championship contender, but we didn’t know.”

 

### Kevon Looney on Jordan Poole’s time as a Dub:

*Looney’s Favorite Game from Poole*

> Against the Denver Nuggets, Poole scored 30, 29 and 27 points in the first three games of the series. Looney called that his favorite stretch from Poole, [remembering **one transition 3 against DeMarcus Cousins** that had the crowd in a frenzy. “That’s when I was like, **‘Oh, he’s going to be really good,’**”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-vFkVWkCFo) Looney said. “Doing that in his first playoff experience, not nervous? Steph came off the bench, and he still put on a show.”

*Memphis Series*

>“He bailed us out a lot in that playoff run,” Looney said.

*On the 2022-23 Season+Lakers playoffs loss*

> “I think he got a bad rap for that year,” Looney said. “I mean, he averaged 20 points, and he helped us get to the playoffs. You know, **when Steph was down for a while, him and Klay really kept us afloat**. We made a run to get out of the Play-In and won a series. **So I think he gets a bad rap. It wasn’t all bad that year. It might’ve felt that way.**”

*On the Draymond Punch*:

> Poole has remained reticent to speak about the Draymond Green punch and its aftermath since the moment it happened. Green has discussed it publicly plenty. Poole deflects and downplays at every opportunity, a private approach that was always respected and appreciated internally….But **Poole never missed a day of work or demanded any particular punishment**. “He handled it professionally,” Kevon Looney said.

>  

> “Situation like that, there’s only so much you can do,” Looney said. “Especially with all the coverage we get on our team, all the media and everything that’s going on, the video getting out. **I feel like we handled it as best we could. You know, Draymond and JP were professional. They didn’t have no more blow-ups during the season. They might have felt awkward, but they didn’t let it affect their play on the court**. They still played hard. They still played together.”

 

### Steph Curry’s Favorite Jordan Poole Game – 2022 NBA Finals Game 6 vs Boston (Also on the Punch):

> Curry’s three favorite Poole moments all came during the NBA Finals. During that [**Game 6** clincher in Boston, the Warriors went down eight in the first quarter. A large chunk of that happened with Curry on the bench. Poole hit three 3s during that stint.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMwdiky5Zcw)

> “That was a beautiful thing,” Curry said. “But also the **half-court shots. Games [2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OvfnMJ_Ef0) and [5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J27-IwwGinM)**. Reminiscent of the three-quarter court shot I hit against Memphis in 2015,” Curry said. “Big, loud momentum plays.”

*On Draymond’s Punch*

> “Unless you were in this building, you **can always talk about what could’ve been punishment-wise**,” Curry said. “**But unless you were in here, having these conversations daily and everything that we tried to keep in the house that then got out, it made everything a lot more complicated. We obviously will be scrutinized for whatever happens. We did the best we could with a very hard situation.** Between them two, that’s whatever it’s going to be between them two.”

 

### Klay Thompson on Jordan Poole’s Time as a Dub:

*Klay’s Favorite Game from Poole*

> Thompson’s favorite moment next to Poole came during that 2021-22 regular season. [Poole] was Thompson’s backup but also Curry’s. Curry went out with a foot sprain in March. [“There was one game we were starting together where I think **I went for 35 and he went for 30**,” Thompson said. “We were **playing the Jazz and came back from down 20**. It was a great moment for us to know, you know, we can do this.” Thompson’s memory is a point short. He had 36, and Poole had 31.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XURFWMH-Af0)

>  

*Klay hopes Dub Nation shows Poole some love tomorrow*

> “**We would not have won a championship in ’22 without him**,” Thompson said. “Simple as that. So **I hope Dub Nation shows him the right ovation on Friday night**.”

> “It was unfortunate what happened because he helped us raise a banner,” Thompson said. “**But at the end of the day, time heals all wounds, and Dub Nation will be forever grateful for the Poole Party. I know I will.”**

by NokCha_