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Across the NBA, the view of contract extensions for former first-round picks still on their rookie deals and entering their fourth seasons tends to be simplistic. The player is under contract for the upcoming season no matter what, and though he can be a free agent the following summer, he is limited to restricted free agency, allowing the team to match.
For Jordan Poole, then, the Warriors could simply shrug and allow the October 17 deadline for an extension to pass without sweating much. Even if he gets an offer from another team next summer, after all, the Warriors can match it and keep him in place.
But that, according to a Western Conference executive, is a dangerous game for the Dubs and in the end, it just might behoove the Warriors to find a suitable number for Poole and give him a commensurate four-year deal.
“Restricted free agency is very, very weighted to the teams,” the executive said. “But most of us don’t want it to come to that. I don’t think the Warriors want it to come to that, either.”
Poole Could Become More Expensive After Breakout Year
In Poole’s case, the first reason that the Warriors should want to avoid going to restricted free agency is that it is much more likely that Poole’s value will grow between now and next summer. Poole averaged 18.5 points, 4.0 assists and 3.4 rebounds last year, all career highs. He shot 44.8% from the field, 36.4% from the 3-point line and 92.5% from the free-throw line. Those were also career highs, and he was the league’s best free-throw shooter last season.
“He was up and down in his first two years but he put everything together last year—his shooting, his play-making, his scoring, his defense was better,” the executive said. “He’s 23 years old. He is going to come out with a little more swagger, a little more confidence. He might just repeat what he did last year and you wind up paying him the same you would have this year. More likely, he is going to get better. If he does that, then he is more expensive, so you hurt your own cause there. It is only a very, very slim chance that he regresses and you regret the deal.”
Poole numbers put him on par with the contract signed by fellow 2019 draftee R.J. Barrett, who got four years and $107 million from the Knicks, with the total running to $120 million in incentives. A similar deal would be seen as fair for Poole.
Warriors’ Hardball Could Backfire
But if the Warriors opt to play hardball and don’t give Poole an extension this year—if they force him into restricted free agency next summer—they could save money if teams are reluctant to give Poole generous offers, knowing the Warriors will match them. Restricted free agency hit a couple of players hard this past year, most notably DeAndre Ayton of the Suns and Collin Sexton, now of the Jazz.
“It is the kind of thing that drives a wedge between team and player, and the Warriors as a franchise, they just do not operate that way,” the exec said. “It takes a sort of pettiness to say to a player who has earned a big extension, ‘Hey, we are gonna make you go get an offer in the marketplace, we are not going to put our own value on you.’ The Warriors do not want to do that. And I don’t think, in the end, that they will.”
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