Right now, everyone in the NBA is talking about Jordan Poole of the Golden State Warriors for multiple reasons.
First, they are speaking of his resilience in overcoming a punch from Draymond Green just over a week ago.
Second, people are talking about his upcoming contract extension talks with the Warriors because the young man is set to earn hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few years.
Jordan Poole survived this pic.twitter.com/Oi5Vsn4gnt
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) October 14, 2022
But everyone should be reminded that Green’s punch isn’t the first adversity Poole has worked through.
Just a few years ago, his first in the league, Poole was part of a very different Warriors.
The 2019-20 season was lacking Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and only had Green for 43 games.
There were a lot of changes coming to the team, it was certainly a transitional period.
For some of the season, Poole was part of a starting five consisting of him, Ky Bowman, Glenn Robinson III, Eric Paschall, and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Yes, that looks radically different from the Warriors we see today.
The Modern Warriors
It is wild to think that the Warriors went from that team to the one that just won yet another NBA Finals back in June.
The team was facing some rough times back in 2019-2020 but big things were ahead.
They would foster Poole’s talent, trade for Andrew Wiggins, and retain Curry just months later.
Green would get healthy, Kevon Looney would come into his own, and Thompson would come back later as well.
The team was at its nadir at the time of this starting five but it regrouped and rebounded in a huge way.
NEXT: Draymond Green Knows He Has Work To Do