Although he couldn’t mention Chris Paul’s name since the trade isn’t official, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told NBA reporters that the team needed a shift.
The Warriors traded Jordan Poole to the Wizards for Paul, who has already spoken with Stephen Curry.
“We’re going to be a lot different,” Kerr said. “The last thing I’m going to do is say anything about a team that just won a championship a year ago and then fought through a difficult season. Made a helluva run at the end of this year. I’ve loved this group that we’ve had the last couple years.”
“But the biggest point is that we sensed we needed a shift. Didn’t mean we needed an overhaul, but we needed a shift of some sort. I think everybody in the organization sensed that. And it feels like we’ve made a pretty significant shift without giving up our identity and our sense of who we are as a team. I think, all in all, it’s a very positive shift.”
Paul averaged 13.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists this past season for the Phoenix Suns, who lost to the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 Western Conference Semifinals in six games and traded CP3 to the Wizards for Bradley Beal.
The Los Angeles Clippers were interested in trading for Paul, while the Los Angeles Lakers were hoping the Wizards would waive the veteran so they could sign him as an unrestricted free agent.
Now, both L.A. teams will have to face Paul multiple times in the 2023-24 regular season since the Warriors, Clippers and Lakers are all in the same division.
Paul was playing basketball at his gym in Winston-Salem, N.C., when his son told him he got traded by the Wizards to the Warriors. The NBA legend’s son was also the person who told him the Phoenix Suns traded him to the Wizards in the Beal deal.
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