Gauging How Realistic a Jordan Poole Warriors Return Is After His Comments

After the Golden State Warriors trounced the New Orleans Pelicans 138-87 on Monday, Jordan Poole was surprisingly candid about his openness to return to the franchise with which he won a championship.

"Yes, this feels like home," Poole said. "Driving into the arena, crossing the Bay Bridge, definitely feels natural. And I think it’s pretty evident, you know, the way that I play is very fitting to how I used to play here. Nothing’s changed other than the system that I’m in."

Poole added, "If there’s any place that I’m comfortable, it’s probably where I started."

It would have been understandable had he expressed no interesting in returning to the team after Draymond Green punched him in the face during a practice.

One year after the punch, the Warriors chose to trade Poole while still employing Green. Anyone could hold resentment over that series of events.

But at least publicly, Poole is saying he's open to returning. Let's go over how realistic a Poole return is.

Nearly Impossible for Poole to Return This Season

Poole is in the last year of the four-year, $128 million contract extension he signed with the Warriors days after getting punched by Green. He's making $34 million this season.

The Warriors are hoping to trade Kristaps Porzingis for a healthy player in the next five weeks, but Poole is simply too expensive and not the player archetype they should be looking for with a Porzingis deal.

As a team over the first apron, the Warriors can't take back more money than they send out in a trade. So to trade for Poole, they'd have to include players they simply won't be willing to—a) Porzingis and Green would be enough outgoing salary, but that's silly or b) Porzingis, Moses Moody and a third deep reserve player would be enough, but why give up that much?

It would be one thing if Poole were having a big season, but he's averaging 6.2 points on 19.2 percent shooting in five games. Woof.

Poole will inevitably get going, though. But still, there's virtually no scenario in which the Dubs trade for him.

If Poole were to take a buyout, the Warriors would be ineligible to sign him because they are over the first apron.

So we can confidently say the Dubs aren't getting Poole this season. But what about next season?

Next Season Is a Possibility

The Warriors have a lot of question marks for next season. Green and Jimmy Butler will be free agents. The Dubs could let them walk and be a cap-space team for the first time in over a decade. They'd likely look to get much younger with that cap space.

Or if this season goes well, they could look to bring back Butler and Green with most of that cap space and essentially run it back.

In either scenario, it's possible they'd be interested in Poole on a veteran minimum contract.

Green even said a Poole return would be "incredible."

“I have no issues with that at all,” Green said. “I would never stand in the way of this organization thinking they could better themselves."

Poole is just 27 years old. His free-agent market probably won't be robust with the way his stats have fallen off over the last year-and-change, but he's too talented to be out of the NBA entirely.

There's simply too many variables to give a percentage chance of Poole returning to the Warriors next season, but I'll dip into those guessing waters by saying the Dubs have as good a chance of landing him as any other team.

Poole has seen a side of the NBA that will change a player's perspective. Over the last four years, the Wizards and Pelicans have been totally overmatched more often than not.

So his response to whether he missed playing with for the Dubs felt totally genuine.

"Do I miss it? Hell yeah."

Returning to the Warriors to play with Stephen Curry might be Poole's top free-agency destination.

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