Let’s talk about a fun contest ahead, Dub Nation. The Golden State Warriors are rolling into the Smoothie King Center tonight looking like the world’s most talented MASH unit, missing Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jimmy Butler. That’s four All-Stars sitting in street clothes while this team somehow just beat the third-place Denver Nuggets 128-117 on Sunday without their starpower.
Now the Warriors head to New Orleans on the front end of a road back-to-back, and that’s where it gets spicy. Because waiting for them in that locker room is Jordan Poole, a man whose Warriors career ended in one of the stranger chapters in recent franchise history, and whose Pelicans career has been one long identity crisis with occasional flashes of brilliance.
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Golden State Warriors at New Orleans Pelicans
When: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 | 5:00 PM PT
Where: Smoothie King Center | New Orleans, Louisiana
TV: NBC Sports Bay Area
Radio: 95.7 The Game
Here’s the thing about JP right now: his back is genuinely against the wall. He spent the final nine games before the All-Star break completely out of the Pelicans’ rotation while the front office shopped him around. Then interim coach James Borrego threw him back out there against Philly, and Poole dropped 23 points on 53.3% shooting in 24 minutes, draining five threes like a man who had something to prove to everybody in the building and several people who weren’t. With Dejounte Murray potentially making his season debut tonight after missing the entire year with a torn Achilles, Poole’s rotation spot could shrink again the moment the final buzzer sounds. He doesn’t have the luxury of a bad night.
The Pelicans at 16-42 are not a good basketball team, but the Warriors have not earned any off nights especially without their best players.
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Golden State’s depth has been the real story of this stretch. Moses Moody, Al Horford, and De’Anthony Melton all scored 20+ against Denver. The Warriors posted 42 assists on 48 made field goals, the kind of number that reflects genuine team cohesion rather than desperation. This isn’t a team just limping through the motions; it’s a squad adapting.
But don’t let the Pelicans’ record fool you. Poole with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove is genuinely dangerous, and tonight he gets to demonstrate it against the franchise that once thought he was worth a $140 million investment before reconsidering. That’s the kind of psychological fuel that turns a 23-point night into something considerably more devastating.