Getty Image / Thearon W Henderson
Things are officially getting wild in the NBA.
When the Phoenix Suns made the deal with the Washington Wizards to land Bradley Beal, it was expected to be the spark that really got teams moving this offseason.
Since that trade, we have already seen some minor draft pick deals, a Boston Celtics trade for Kristaps Porzingis that fell through, and then another one that successfully sent Porzingis to Boston.
We still haven’t seen any of the top picks in this year’s draft moved with just hours until teams begin making their selection, but we may have already seen the most unexpected trade we’ll see this entire offseason.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, that Washington Wizards are sending Chris Paul, who they just acquired for Beal, to the Golden State Warriors for a trade package that includes Jordan Poole and future draft assets.
ESPN Sources: The Washington Wizards are finalizing a deal to send Chris Paul to the Golden State Warriors for a package that includes Jordan Poole and future draft assets. pic.twitter.com/kpNkhqFicp
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 22, 2023
This move is a pretty shocking one for the Warriors.
To begin with, Chris Paul is nearing the end of his career and struggled with injuries this past season.
Meanwhile, Jordan Poole is 24 years old, averaged just over 20 points per game this past season, and the Warriors were confident enough in him a year ago that they gave him an extension worth $32 million per year.
This feels like they were overpaying for Paul before including anything else in the deal.
It will also be interesting to see how Paul fits with the Warriors. Putting him in the starting lineup will mean that Steph Curry will have the ball in his hands less.
That will take some pressure off of him to create his own shots, but it will also mean that the Warriors will have to adjust their offense to create shots for him working off the ball.
Defensively, it’s hard to see how the Paul-Curry combination works. They would form one of the NBA’s smallest backcourts and Paul is limited defensively at this point in his career.
The Warriors may have felt they needed to choose between Poole and Draymond Green following their pre-season incident, but you would think that they could have gotten a better return for Poole.
With this move, the Golden State Warriors have officially committed to trying to win another ring with their core of Curry, Green, and Klay Thompson, but it’s questionable whether this was the move they needed to contend.