Golden State Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy explained the real motivation behind the startling trade of Jordan Poole for Chris Paul for the first time since the exchange.
“Obviously looking to improve our team,” Dunleavy said. “Felt like adding Chris gives us a chance to get better. He addresses some stuff for us overall as a team, but also gives us some financial flexibility moving forward.”
The last argument made by Dunleavy is crucial to address because, despite the initial shock of the Poole for Paul trade, the Warriors now have a large amount of financial freedom. When questioned about the need for this deal in terms of money, Dunleavy answered truthfully that it was somewhat required.
“It was somewhat necessary,” Dunleavy said. “Not completely, because we still have another year, but to get ahead of it – we’re starting to see some teams do that right now. For us basically to be able to do that and basically do what we feel like is improve our basketball team, that was the reasoning behind it. What does that allow us to do? Hard to say at this point, but to just have that optionality and flexibility to a certain degree, where we’re not gonna be probably too propped up against that second apron.”
The Warriors and Dunleavy decided to trade Poole for improved financial flexibility and collective team performance.
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