SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors guard Jordan Poole is heading to the team’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz for a pair of games this weekend and, according to coach Steve Kerr, will be there for an indefinite period of time as he begins a more deliberate phase of his development.
Poole, 20, will make his G League debut Saturday in Stockton before the Santa Cruz Warriors play the Texas Legends on Sunday at Kaiser Permanente Arena. The organization intended for Poole’s development to include various G League assignments when they selected him in June’s NBA Draft.
“We figured there would be times when we put him in the G League,” Kerr said as the Warriors prepared to protect a three-game win streak entering Friday’s game against the Suns at Chase Center. “And this seems like a good time to do so.”
The No. 28 pick out of Michigan, Poole struggled after he was thrust into the Warriors’ rotation early this season after the roster was ravaged by injuries. In 29 games Poole averaged 7.1 points on a league-worst 25.4% shooting, 2.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists. With more healthy personnel, he has been in and out of the rotation in recent weeks.
“Early in the season when we were down so many guys, I thought we had to play him too many minutes, frankly,” Kerr said. “This is more a natural order of things.”
After he averaged 27 minutes per game in November, Poole averaged 11.9 minutes in nine games in December and shot 10.5% overall.
“I think he’s played well the last couple of weeks. It’s been good to give him shorter bursts, it’s a more natural way to develop, where you play shorter minutes,” Kerr said. “You can make a mistake, you can make a good play, you’re never getting too high or too low. You watch tape afterwards with your coach and you just keep moving forward.”
Rookie center Alen Smailagic and two-way player Ky Bowman will also be with the team’s G League affiliate this weekend, while Golden State will play the Mavericks at Chase Center on Saturday.
Two-way player status update: After Friday, Bowman has used up 34 of the 45 days he’s allowed to spend with his NBA club under his two-way contract. Guard Damion Lee used 33. The rest of their seasons must be spent with the G League affiliate. Bowman has emerged as a key reserve, while Lee started the last six games at shooting guard.
“We’re going to run into an issue here in a couple of weeks and it’s just the way it is,” Kerr said. “But both guys are playing really well and we feel like, as a team, we’re playing well. So might as well ride it out and see how it goes and deal with whatever’s next later.”
The Warriors are aware of their remaining days and are working on ways to convert one or both to standard contracts, which will likely involve trading another roster player or waiting until March, when they can sign one to a prorated minimum contract.
As Kerr said, there’s “various ways for us to try to keep them both, but it’s complex and not something that we’re going to just publicly talk about. It’s more behind the scenes, figuring out what’s next.”
