How Jordan Poole Saved the Warriors’ Season Before It Even Started

Golden State’s rising star, who just earned a massive contract extension, took the high road in response to the Draymond Green altercation.

On Sunday, the Warriors announced they were committing more than $100 million to Jordan Poole over the next five seasons, tacking four years and $123 million—plus another $17 million in incentives—onto the back of his current deal.

A thank-you card should come with it.

The Warriors’ season isn’t a minute old and already Poole has saved it. Not salvaged it. Saved it. Not through his production, though Golden State can surely count on that. Poole was one of the breakout stars of last season, averaging 18.5 points, completing the climb from late first-round pick to G Leaguer to budding NBA star. With Klay Thompson healthy, Poole has already emerged as a favorite to win the NBA’s Sixth Man Award. SI Sportsbook has him at +450.

Poole has saved the season through his reaction to his altercation with Draymond Green. Or, rather, his lack of a reaction. From when the video of the haymaker Green hit Poole with first surfaced two weeks ago, to the Warriors’ still puzzling decision not to suspend Green, Poole remained silent. He didn’t talk about it. He didn’t tweet about it. When he finally addressed it Sunday, he did so by saying he didn’t have much to say about it.

“[Green] apologized and [was] professional,” Poole said. “We plan on handling ourselves that way. We’re here to play basketball, and everybody on our team and in the locker room knows what it takes to win a championship, and we’re going to do that on the court. That’s really all I have to say on the matter. We’re here to win a championship and keep hanging banners.”

Think about what the last couple of weeks must have been like for Poole. He’s 23 and coming off a title-winning season, a championship he helped deliver. He’s settling into a role on a roster with a great chance to win another. He’s negotiating a contract extension that will secure him generational wealth.

Then, Green, a Warriors leader, clocks him during a practice. A day later, a video of the punch is leaked and immediately goes viral.

Asked Sunday what the last two weeks have been like, Poole was succinct.

“Long,” he said.

Poole could have reacted differently. He could have demanded Green be suspended. It would have been justified. Appropriate, even. Contrary to what some have said, punches like the ones Green delivered to his teammate aren’t commonplace. Ask Kevin Durant, Green’s former teammate. “I heard people say that that happens a lot in the NBA,” Durant said last week. “I had never seen nothing like that before.” Or Evan Fournier, the Knicks guard who tweeted “there’s no way you can get back to being teammates after a punch like that.”

Poole could have made the team choose between them. As recently as a year ago that could have been a career-ending move. Green was one of the NBA’s best defenders and a core member of the Warriors’ dynasty. Green is still (mostly) those things but with Golden State operating with an eye on the long-term future, it can be argued that Poole, today, is more important.

But Poole didn’t make the Warriors do that. Last week, Steve Kerr told reporters the team wouldn’t have brought Green back without Poole’s approval. “Jordan, obviously, had to be involved in this,” Kerr said. That’s a lot of pressure to put on Poole, of course. Accept it and play out the season with a teammate who slugged him. Push back, and he’s the guy forcing out Golden State’s defensive anchor and emotional leader.

Poole (middle) signed a massive four-year, $140 million extension with the Warriors.  :: John Hefti/USA TODAY Sports

Poole took the high road. 

It won’t be business as usual. But the Warriors can get back to business. On paper, this Golden State team looks improved. Thompson is fully healthy. James Wiseman, too. Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody have a full season under their belts. Andrew Wiggins, who announced his contract extension alongside Poole, is locked in for the long term.

“It would be pretty crazy to want to leave a team that won a championship,” Poole said. “We got our guys coming back and we’re excited; we want to do it all over again.”

Said Green last week: “As far as us moving forward, Jordan’s a professional, I’m a professional. We have a job to do. We both have experienced a lot of winning over the course of our lives and we know what that takes. So we’re going to do just that, what it takes to win.”

Green will be motivated. He knows he lost the locker room when he dropped Poole, an incident made exponentially worse when the video got out. He wants to add a fifth title to his résumé. And he wants to get paid. Green, who has a player option on his contract for next season, was unlikely to secure a lucrative extension before the Poole incident. He will have to work even harder for it now. “I’m going to prove a lot of people wrong this year,” Green said. “I’m going to do exactly what I do when I’m motivated. In a major way.”

He will get the chance in Golden State.

And he can thank Jordan Poole for that.

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