Did the Warriors trade for the wrong Wizards point guard?

The Golden State Warriors tried to straddle two timelines, drafting teenage draft prospects while attempting to still contend for titles. Now they are abandoning the plan, pushing their chips in for the next few seasons of Stephen Curry’s prime.

After repeated assurances publicly and privately that they weren’t shopping Jordan Poole, newly minted general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. shipped him off to the Washington First-Years (hardly seems fair to call them wizards at this point) in exchange for a 38-year-old Chris Paul.

Shams Charania, Jake Fischer and Adrian Wojnarowski were all reporting on the deal simultaneously, but here is what appears to be the final terms:

The Warriors are certainly selling low on Jordan Poole, who will now get a chance to resurrect his image on a team with significantly less pressure than the Warriors put on him. He will likely be the Wizards’ top offensive option next season and get all of the space he needs to put up mammoth numbers.

This deal clears a significant amount of money from the Warriors’ long-term books and gives them a veteran point guard who has been in a lot of playoff games, many of them against the Warriors.

Yet if the Wizards were at least marginally interested in Jordan Poole, enough to bring him and his salary on-board, the question has to be asked: did Golden State trade for the wrong Washington point guard?

Did the Warriors trade for the wrong point guard?

Let’s set aside any pipe dream scenarios, where the Warriors use Jordan Poole’s contract to trade for Damian Lillard, and focus on this specific deal. The Wizards didn’t just add Chris Paul in a recent trade (which just went official on Thursday afternoon), but they also added another point guard: Tyus Jones, formerly of the Memphis Grizzlies.

The onetime national champion at Duke has been one of the league’s best backup point guards for the last four seasons in Memphis, giving the Grizzlies 48 minutes of solid point guard play each game. When Ja Morant missed time, Jones showed he can both run an offense and be a part of a league-best defense.

Jones is 27 years old, a whopping 11 years younger than Paul, but has also played in 27 playoff games of his own and is not exactly green. He could have brought a steadying presence to the Warriors’ bench, played in lineups with any of their players due to his defense and shooting, and done so with maturity and poise, just like Paul.

He’s also under contract for just next season (Paul has a fully non-guaranteed deal in 2024-25), giving Golden State salary flexibility after this season. When you factor in that he has played in an average of 74 games per season over the last three years, whereas Paul has been frequently injured, and you get a player who brings a lot of value.

A lot of value at half the price, as well. Jones will make $14 million next season, compared to $30.8 million for Paul. That’s a more nimble contract to move later in the season and helps the Warriors keep their luxury tax bill down this year.

What could a trade for Tyus Jones have looked like?

Would the Wizards have been open to a deal that sent Poole and the same package to Washington, and in return sent Jones to the Warriors, along with Mike Muscala and Delon Wright? It would have had to be looped into the deal with Boston and Memphis, but that would be easily enough done.

That deal gives the Warriors a stretch-big, multiple additional ball handlers, and Jones is close enough to Paul in everything he offers that it’s hard to sneer at getting more players for less money.

Chris Paul is an excellent veteran leader, as he has shown at multiple stops, but the Warriors have those. They don’t need an old point guard about to fall off the cliff who is going to miss large amounts of time and potentially be unavailable in the playoffs. In Jones they get a higher floor, the same ceiling, and more flexibility.

Did the Warriors just trade for the wrong point guard? Yes, I think they did.