Warriors New GM Throws Jordan Poole Under The Bus In Assessing Trade

He had some huge shoes to fill in taking over the GM reins from the legendary 4-time champion Bob Myers. But Mike Dunleavy Jr., the new Golden State Warriors general manager, made a big splash soon after moving into the job, and now is being pretty blunt about how he felt about trading Jordan Poole. In short, it was no biggie. 

“I didn’t lose much sleep.”

Mike Dunleavy Jr. on trading Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards 👀

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Poole, a 23-year-old on the rise who averaged a career-best 20.4 points per game last season, was shipped off to the Washington Wizards in the deal that brought grizzled veteran Chris Paul to The Bay. But Dunleavy Jr. had no problem pulling the trigger, telling Dubs Talk, a Warriors podcast, "I didn't lose much sleep over that one." 

He admitted the decision to ship out Poole was easy, due to a couple of key ingredients:

1) The money factor: Getting Poole's four-year, $128M contract off the books. “Honestly, in a lot of ways it was an easy move because I felt it would make our team better and it gave us a decent amount of (financial) flexibility going forward, so to me it wasn't that tough,” Dunleavy said. “…To have an opportunity to address some needs and clear up some financial relief, for me, honestly, didn't lose much sleep over that one.”

1) The fallout from the preseason Draymond Green punch-up incident pretty much meant that those two just couldn't co-exist any longer. “I can’t say that’s not an argument,” Dunleavy said. “Can make a good point about that."

He did add that Poole should have "a wonderful opportunity" in Washington with the Wizards, and "to see his game grow, perhaps."

Perhaps. 

Dunleavy certainly doesn't seem to mind having Poole out of town. 

Photo: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports