Knowing they needed to make changes to a roster that was getting too expensive, the Golden State Warriors did shuffle their team personnel this offseason. But one of their biggest moves, trading for Chris Paul, still came as a major surprise for Steve Kerr’s squad. In fact, even Warriors team owner Joe Lacob was caught off guard by the trade, which also sent out Jordan Poole.
“Chris Paul? When I first heard that and thought about it, was like, ‘Really?’” It seemed highly unlikely we would do that. But the more we thought about it and considered our options, we thought, ‘Hey, he’s a great player. He’s always made other people better.’ He hasn’t won a championship yet, but maybe he can do that with our group. It would be a hell of a storybook ending to his career or year-ending, if he was able to do it with us. We kinda warmed to the idea.”
Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob on Chris Paul trade
Even though CP3 is regarded as one of the best point guards in NBA history, Stephen Curry is obviously the floor general in Golden State, and that won’t be changing any time soon. Especially to make room for a 38-year-old Paul.
However, as Lacob indicated, Paul is a great player. Paul’s numbers may be diminishing as he continues to age, but this is still an elite distributor, as evidenced by the former Wake Forest star leading the NBA in assists during the 2021 season.
The Warriors believe there’s room for both Curry and Paul on the roster and possibly even space for both to see the floor at the same time. When you have you players like Curry and Paul with such a high basketball IQ, to go with an experienced coaching staff as the Warriors have, things like this figure themselves out. If not, it’s not like Golden State mortgaged their future in any way by swinging the trade.
As Lacob mentioned in another part of the interview with Audacy, Jordan Poole was the “odd man out.” Changes were inevitable in Golden State. Seeing Paul on the same roster as Curry is odd, but seeing the two wear the same jersey will be even more peculiar. However, everyone’s on the same page about expectations in Golden State, which for Paul, means chasing a chance to win his first NBA championship as he enters his 19th season in the association.
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