Warriors’ timelines: How Eric Paschall went from All-Rookie to traded

Dub Nation had high hopes for EP in Golden State. Did the Dubs give up on him too early?

Much has been made of the Golden State Warriors drafting strategies recently, especially considering this team is very much a title contender on any given year with their veteran core. The young players are theoretically supposed to assimilate into the dynastic culture and provide a lift for their OG’s while soaking up the game and the attitude from the All-Stars around them.

Former #2 overall pick James Wiseman being traded last winter set the tone that this team would jettison any piece they felt they couldn’t develop pronto.

And then when former first round pick and burgeoning star Jordan Poole was shipped out to Washington, it made it emphatically clear that the Dubs have no problem getting rid of any of their draft picks if they felt the team could improve.

There was another Warrior drafted the same season as Poole that many Dub Nation members had high hopes for: Eric Paschall! He was an NCAA national champion with Villanova on the same team as Donte DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson. Golden State took him in the second round of the 2019 draft.

Rookie Paschall was the biggest bright spot on a depleted Golden State Warriors team, making the 2019-2020 All-Rookie team and giving Dub Nation more hope for the future. In his first year he averaged 14.6 points per game on just under 50% shooting in 60 games, starting 26 of them.

Remember when he dropped 34 points and 13 rebounds on the Portland Trail Blazers on his birthday? This dude could hoop!

His second year he only played 40 games as the Warriors tried to lean on Wiseman, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney as their bigs. Paschall struggled as a small ball center as the Warriors tried to figure out how to best utilize the athletic 6-foot-7 forward. EP was a mid-range savant but didn’t have the playmaking or three-point shooting to really offset what he was giving up as an undersized center on the defensive end.

Brady Klopfer had this to say about Paschall back in March of 2021:

The fundamental issue with Paschall is that right now he only has one good skill: scoring in isolation while moving north-south. The directional part is important to note, because Paschall doesn’t like to hang out on the block; he’d rather start from the perimeter, but he’s not a threat shooting the ball (he’s a career 29.2% shooter from deep). If you don’t shoot threes well, but you like to initiate from the three-point line (or thereabouts), you’re just begging for defenses to sag off you, and play 5-on-4 when the ball isn’t in your hands. It’s why the offense often looks like it’s struggling when Paschall is on the court, even when he’s having a nice game.

Unless he develops a three-point shot, or becomes a decent defensive player (right now he has no position defensively, and not in the good way), I really don’t see how he can contribute to a quality NBA team.

Here’s EP’s shot chat for that 2020-2021 season:

Warriors GM Bob Myers admitted there was some confusion on how to best use Paschall:

“We were trying to fit him into this style that we play,” general manager Bob Myers said Wednesday on 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” show. ”Steve [Kerr] had him at the five, and then it became a glut there. And so trying to figure out how he could play the four was a challenge. And I think Steve would acknowledge that.

“So for Eric it’s about figuring out what Steve wants from him [and] what he can bring consistently. But it was so scattered — whether it was James [Wiseman] coming or going in the second unit ... so it’s a hard one. There’s not an easy answer for it.”

Paschall was traded to the Utah Jazz for a protected 2026 second round pick via the Memphis Grizzlies before the 2021-2022 season began.

A lot of eyes were on that move as a lot of Warriors fans still believed Paschall could be solid contributor. But Paschall never really found his footing in Utah, averaging only 12.7 minutes per game in 58 appearances.

Meanwhile the Warriors would romp to another NBA title that season, justifying the jettisoning of EP. Paschall would sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a two-way contract deal but was waived before the season started.

He last played for Leones de Ponce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league.