Aside from the supposed beef that Chris Paul and the Warriors had in the past, the point guard cut with Golden State basketball has been a headache the NBA world has been trying to crack ever since the trade hit was first reported.
While many league pundits don’t understand how the 12-time All-Star will fit into Golden State’s style of play, The Volume Sports NBA podcaster Jason Timpf explained a single stat that perfectly describes how Paul can help direct Steve Kerr. offense.
“The Warriors ran just over 2,200 pick and rolls last year, which was just 24% of their possessions, which was last in the league. Chris Paul alone ran over 1,100 picks and rolls, which is 77% of his league-wide number one possessions,” Timpf explained to Colin Cowherd. “So you’ve got the guy who handles the pick and roll more than anyone in the entire NBA on a base per possession that goes to the team managing it as rarely as any NBA team.
“So the styles are really, really weird there. It’s a playoff step because what happened in the [Los Angeles] The Lakers series is [Anthony Davis] closed everything [the Warriors’] stuff in the baseline when they were executing their move, and so they just had to go to Steph [Curry] pick and roll high and he got tired. And he wore out and his sweater started to fail. If you could give some of those possessions to Chris Paul, you might lighten his workload so Steph can stay at his cap longer in the playoffs. ยป
The Warriors agreed to a trade last Thursday that sent 24-year-old guard Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and future draft picks to the Washington Wizards in exchange for the future Hall of Fame point guard.
Last season with the Phoenix Suns, the 38-year-old averaged 13.9 points on 44% shooting, 4.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists in 32.0 minutes played.
Outside of basketball, the deal was mostly a business decision that boiled down to Poole’s heavy contract, which kicks in next season.
Paul, entering his 19th NBA season, will owe $30.8 million in 2023-24, including $15.8 million currently guaranteed, per Spotrac. Meanwhile, Poole has signed a four-year contract extension worth $128 million ahead of the 2022-23 season. His current contract is set to expire at the end of the 2026-27 NBA season.
It’s unclear how Paul will fit in with the Warriors, but when the time comes, it will certainly be exciting to find out.
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