Chris Paul is heading to the Golden State Warriors. What do we know about the deal?
Of all the places he could have ended up, it seems the veteran guard is now on his way to the Bay Area where he will join forces with Steph Curry and Co.
Following a somewhat surprising move from the Phoenix Suns to the Washington Wizards, the former Suns star was always expected to be shifted on to another team. Few, however, could have predicted that he’d be snapped up by the Warriors.
Wizards trade Chris Paul to Warriors
We forgive you if you’ve got to re-read this but the Wizards have agreed to a deal with the Golden State Warriors, which will see veteran point guard, Chris Paul, head to San Francisco. Paul of course was acquired by Washington just last Sunday in a surprise trade that included Landry Shamet and a number of picks. Recently extended superstar Bradley Beal was the player who went in the opposite direction. Now, regarding what the Wizards got in exchange for trading Paul, that’s where things get interesting. According to reports, Washington will receive Jordan Poole, a 2027 second-round draft pick, and a 2030 protected first-round draft pick.
Poole averaged a career-high 20.4 points and 4.5 assists last season, his fourth in the league after the Warriors took him with the No. 28 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Incidentally, he only recently put pen to paper on a four-year, $128 million contract extension, and new general manager Mike Dunleavy said last week that they planned “on having him for four more years at least.” That clearly is no longer the case. Although one has to wonder, with Draymond Green recently declining his player option, could it be that the franchise chose to offload a player with whom Green had an altercation last season in an effort to convince him to stay? Perhaps we will never know, but the sequence of events certainly is curious.
What to expect from Chris Paul and the Warriors?
There are a few things to consider. Firstly, it’s clear that the Wizards never intended to keep Paul who at 38 years old, has two years left on the four-year, $120 million deal that he first signed with the Suns. With that, he will now link up with fellow shooting guards like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on a team that’s been to six NBA Finals in the last nine seasons. That’s to say, this is a team that knows how to win and has been doing so for some time. By contrast, Paul is coming from his worst season ever in which he averaged a career-low 13.9 points and 8.9 assists last season. Having never won a championship, this is likely his best shot at doing so. The question now is, will that be the case?