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After close to 24 hours of very public debate about whether Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole intentionally hurt Ja Morant, the league has finally weighed in.
Poole was going for a loose ball in the fourth quarter of Golden State’s 142-112 win over the Grizzlies in Game 3 when he made contact with Morant’s knee. The Grizzlies guard limped off the court and to the locker room following the play, and after the game insinuated that Poole may have intentionally tried to hurt him.
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NBA Makes Decision on Poole
As Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported, the league decided on Sunday that Poole would face no discipline for the play. Morant sent a tweet implying that Poole’s play was intentional, and Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins also hinted after the game that Poole may have tried to hurt Morant. Jenkins added that there would be discussions about whether the organization would raise their concerns with the league.
“We just watched the replay,” Jenkins said. “He was going after a dribble and Jordan Poole actually grabbed his knee and yanked it, which kind of triggered whatever happened, so I am actually going to be very curious to see what happens after that.”
Poole had denied that he intentionally tried to hurt Morant on the play.
“It was a basketball play when we doubled him,” Poole said, via ESPNH. “And I hit the ball, and I was going for the ball. I mean, obviously, you don’t want to see anybody get hurt. I’m not even that type of player. I respect everybody.”
The series has been contentious through three games, with players on each team earning ejections for hard fouls. Warriors big man Draymond Green was tossed from Game 1 after being assessed a flagrant 2 foul for pulling down Brandon Clarke on his layup attempt. Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks was ejected from Game 2 after committing a hard foul on Warriors’ Gary Payton II, sending him crashing to the floor and leaving him with a fractured elbow that will keep him out until at least the NBA Finals. Brooks was suspended for the play.
Poole’s Presence Key for Warriors
While there was likely little chance the league would have disciplined Poole for the play, his presence will be important for the remainder of the series. He has been one of the primary scorers for the Warriors throughout the playoffs, averaging 26 points per game against the Grizzlies.
His ascension to playoff star is the culmination of a two-year journey that started with Poole on the fringes of the roster last season, bouncing back and forth between the G League Santa Cruz Warriors and Golden State before finally earning a spot in the regular rotation for the latter part of last season. Poole played his way into the starting lineup by the end of the year, and has become a bona fide star this season. He averaged 18.5 points per game to go with 3.4 rebounds and 4 assists, all career highs.
“Everything they were saying — he takes bad shots or he can’t pass, he can’t dribble — I wasn’t worried about that,” Poole said about his rise in the NBA, via ESPN. “Because I knew what I was capable of. It would just be a matter of how I would be able to incorporate my game into the team’s. It will take some time, and I knew that.”
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