Less than 24 hours after Chris Paul was traded to the Washington Wizards, news has leaked that the Golden State Warriors were looking to land him from the Phoenix Suns.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, they may still have hope of landing the 12-time All-Star from Washington, along with the Los Angeles Clippers.
“The Wizards are gonna try to see if they can flip [Paul] to a 3rd team,” Charania reported on FanDuel TV, “I think a couple of teams to keep an eye on [are] the Clippers, the Warriors – Those are 2 teams that did discuss potential deals with the Suns prior to this trade going down…And now the Wizards are going to see ‘Can we go get a second-round pick from somwhere? Can we get an asset? Can we get a young player that we like?’ So I would expect that process to continue over the process of this week.”
Which team would be the best fit for CP3?
“The Wizards are gonna try to see if they can flip [Chris Paul] to a 3rd team… The Clippers, The warriors – Those are 2 teams that did discuss potential deals with the Suns prior to this trade going down” – @ShamsCharania
Golden State’s reported interest in the 38-year-old guard doesn’t make much sense. The Warriors have plenty of guards, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Jordan Poole who are all quality players — at the very least.
All three of those guys knocked down over 200 3-pointers apiece last season, helping to give the Dubs one of the highest-powered offenses in the NBA. Adding Paul into the fold would take away a lot of the team’s fluidity. CP3 — as great as he is — typically plays best when he’s got the ball in his hands. Running him around off of screens wouldn’t give Golden State the best version of the future Hall of Famer.
Granted, Paul did log his second-highest 3-point percentage since 2018, last season at 37.5%. That’s slightly above his career average of 36.9% from deep.
Bill Simmons Pitches Trade to Send Chris Paul to Warriors for Jordan Poole
Bill Simmons tried to make sense of the aforementioned dilemma on the latest episode of his podcast. He angled that Golden State’s interest in Paul stems from a lack of faith in Poole, who had a rough showing in the playoffs. Simmons proposed a trade that would send the young guard to Washington in exchange for CP3.
“If you’re Golden State, do you feel good about the Jordan Poole contract?” Simmons posed on the June 18 edition of “The Bill Simmons Podcast.” “You have Draymond [Green] you’ve gotta pay … I’ve got Klay Thompson for $40 million. There’s some ‘[Jonathan] Kuminga is actually gonna be good this year’ buzz. [Steph] Curry’s contract goes up every year. Like, if I could turn Jordan Poole into a year of Chris Paul and figure out what that looks like … I think that would be really interesting, to watch a true point guard play with Steph.”
Jordan Poole Doesn’t See Why Warriors Would Want to Trade Him
Poole’s poor playoff run was one of the biggest talking points throughout the spring. He averaged just 10.3 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per game. His efficiency was the most glaring issue, as he made just 34.1% of his attempts from the floor and 25.4% from deep.
Despite the rough display, Poole doesn’t see why the Warriors would look to trade him this summer.
“I don’t know why I wouldn’t be [back],” Poole told The Ringer’s Logan Murdock. “It wasn’t a bad year. I mean, career highs in two categories. I was able to make history with Klay and Steph. My first game-winner. It was a lot of good things that happened this season. It wasn’t a bad season. Yes, I’m in the fabric. Yes, I belong here in this organization, bridging the gap. And I’m a young guy who was drafted here. We won a championship last year, and we have another chance to do it again. And I don’t know why anybody else would feel otherwise. I don’t think anybody is thinking like that.”
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Warriors Listed as ‘Team to Keep an Eye on’ for 12-Time All-Star Guard: Report