The Golden State Warriors are returning to the NBA Finals with another roster loaded with homegrown talent.
Along with the Big Three of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, rising star Jordan Poole is the latest in-house product that the Warriors have drafted and developed into a key rotational player.
Poole was selected with the No. 28 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft as a sophomore out of Michigan. He split time between the Warriors and their G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, during his first two seasons in the NBA, playing in the G League as recently as last season.
Poole played 11 games with Santa Cruz last season, averaging 22.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He also helped the shorthanded Warriors reach the Play-In Tournament in 2020-21 to the tune of 12.0 points per game off the bench. He came on strong at the end of the season, flashing some potential to develop into the player he became this season.
Poole cemented himself as a cornerstone of Golden State’s future this season with averages of 18.5 points and 4.0 assists over 76 games. He has scored over 20 points in seven of the team’s 16 playoff games, including a pair of 30-point outings.
How did Poole fall to the Warriors at the No. 28 pick in 2019? And who was drafted before him?
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2019 NBA Draft: Who was selected ahead of Jordan Poole?
Poole wasn’t a very highly touted prospect coming out of Michigan. He doubled his scoring average from his freshman season (6.1 PPG) to his sophomore season (12.8), but he was far from the smooth scoring wing he is today. Poole’s playmaking has arguably been his biggest development on the offensive side of the ball as well, only averaging 2.2 assists in college compared to 4.0 assists in the NBA this past season.
There were 27 players selected before Poole in the 2019 NBA Draft. Eight of them were guards – Ja Morant, Darius Garland, Jarrett Culver, Coby White, Tyler Herro, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Ty Jerome and Dylan Windler – and only three of them would be selected ahead of him in a re-draft.
In fact, if you re-drafted the entire 2019 draft, Poole would have a strong case to crack the top five along with players like Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Morant, Garland and Herro (while De’Andre Hunter and Keldon Johnson would be strong honorable mentions).
| Pick No. | Team | Player | School/Country |
| 1. | NOP | Zion Williamson | Duke |
| 2. | MEM | Ja Morant | Murray State |
| 3. | NYK | RJ Barrett | Duke |
| 4. | ATL (via LAL) | De’Andre Hunter | Virginia |
| 5. | CLE | Darius Garland | Vanderbilt |
| 6. | MIN (via PHX) | Jarrett Culver | Texas Tech |
| 7. | CHI | Coby White | UNC |
| 8. | NOP (via ATL) | Jaxson Hayes | Texas |
| 9. | WAS | Rui Hachimura | Gonzaga |
| 10. | ATL | Cam Reddish | Duke |
| 11. | PHX (via MIN) | Cameron Johnson | UNC |
| 12. | CHA | PJ Washington | Kentucky |
| 13. | MIA | Tyler Herro | Kentucky |
| 14. | BOS | Romeo Langford | Indiana |
| 15. | DET | Sekou Doumbouya | France |
| 16. | ORL | Chuma Okeke | Auburn |
| 17. | NOP (via BKN) | Nickeil Alexander-Walker | Virginia Tech |
| 18. | IND | Goga Bitadze | Georgia (Europe) |
| 19. | SAS | Luka Samanic | Croatia |
| 20. | PHI (via BOS) | Matisse Thybulle | Washington |
| 21. | MEM | Brandon Clarke | Gonzaga |
| 22. | BOS | Grant Williams | Tennessee |
| 23. | UTA | Darius Bazley | USA |
| 24. | OKC (via PHI) | Ty Jerome | Virginia |
| 25. | POR | Nassir Little | UNC |
| 26. | CLE | Dylan Windler | Belmont |
| 27. | LAC (via BKN) | Mfiondu Kabengele | Florida State |
| 28. | GSW | Jordan Poole | Michigan |
| 29. | SAS | Keldon Johnson | Kentucky |
| 30. | DET (via MIL) | Kevin Porter Jr. | USC |
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While Poole is certainly a diamond in the rough-type story, there are a few teams that could hang their head over passing on him multiple times.
After Williamson, the Pelicans had two more picks before Poole was selected. They went with Jaxson Hayes and Alexander-Walker instead. The Hawks had two first-round picks before Poole, but they were never going to take him in the top 10.
The Celtics may take the biggest “L” on Poole, selecting Romeo Langford 14th overall and Grant Williams 22nd overall. While Williams has exceeded expectations in his own right, the Langford pick was certainly a miss.
Hindsight is always 20-20, but the Warriors had a “rich get richer” moment in Poole falling to the No. 28 pick.