Warriors’ Poole and Grizzlies’ Jackson Jr. go way back
SAN FRANCISCO — Minutes after the Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves to join the Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals, Jordan Poole took out his phone to send a text to his best friend.
No words, just a GIF of “The Office” character Dwight Schrute nodding, “It’s go time.” The Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. sent a Snoop Dogg GIF back: “It’s about to go down.”
This series has been a dream come true for the 22-year-old “brothers” who six years ago in their Indiana prep school dorm room were drawing up visions of playing in the NBA one day.
“We’ve talked about this forever,” Jackson said. “We used to joke that — because he didn’t really like playing defense like that — the team he’d be good at was the Warriors.”
But to play against each other on the playoff stage? That was a goal the pair couldn’t have imagined.
Playoff bliss for two old friends has been interrupted by tension between their teams caused by a slew of flagrant fouls, ejections, costly injuries and a suspension. Poole was thrust into the drama when Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said he caused Memphis star Ja Morant’s knee injury in Game 3.
Truth is, none of the toxicity has really fazed them. Look closely and you’ll catch Jackson and Poole on the court together trying to lighten the mood.
“Stop fouling! You can’t stay on the court!” Poole yelled at Jackson from the bench while he conferred with referees during Game 1.
Jackson couldn’t help but smile.
It all comes from a bond Shane Heirman, their coach at La Lumiere prep, saw in them as teenagers.
“Their ability to compete and have a good time, they both have tremendous personalities,” said Heirman, now an associate head coach at Central Michigan. “Every day they brought an energy to the court.”
Jackson, the son of former Warrior Jaren Jackson Sr., transferred from Park Tudor in Indianapolis to La Lumiere his senior year as one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation: Five stars, a 6-foot-11 phenom who’d soon commit to Michigan State.
From Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Poole transferred to “LaLu” as he prepared for college ball at Michigan. In addition to Jackson, he teamed up with fivestar recruits Tyger Campbell (UCLA) and Brian Bowen (G League). They went 29-1 and beat now-Knicks guard RJ Barrett and Montverde Academy to win a national title.
“We were kind of like a cheat code,” Poole said.
For all their success together, they grew more through playing against each other.
A strict curfew at LaLu meant lights out at 8:30 p.m. By 9 p.m., the two roommates were sneaking out.
With a butter knife stolen from the school cafeteria, they’d pick open the lock on the school gym, pop on the latest album release — think Lil Uzi Vert and J. Cole — and play one-on-one through the late night until they couldn’t move a muscle.
Heirman said he’s proud of them for breaking the rules at La Lumiere.
“They lock that place up tight, so you have to get pretty creative to get in there,” Heirman said.
Stuck inside in rural Indiana, an empty gym one picked lock away was heaven. Those sessions were “the highlight of my basketball career,” Poole said.
“LaLu was nowhere. It was a culture shock,” he said. “All we did was play basketball because we were bored. We couldn’t drive or go anywhere on campus … When guys got tired we’d go home, go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again.”
It was in that LaLu gym that Poole says he developed his touch around the rim that’s added a prized dynamic to the Warriors’ scoring today.
Jackson stands near 7 feet tall. At 6-foot-4, Poole had to find crafty ways to score against his teammate one-onone. So he learned how to change up his tempo and find different ways through the lane, how to seek out quick layups, use a feathery touch on layups high off the glass and get into bigger players’ bodies.
“Jaren is a big reason why my finishing game is so strong,” Poole said. “We played one-on-one, and when I figured out how to score against taller opponents and more athletic bigs, he was the prototype.”
As his primary defender during those one-on-one sessions, Jackson took the brunt of Poole’s growth.
“He still does a lot of the same stuff,” Jackson said. “I just try to make it hard on him. He’s become a lot better player
than he was back then.”
If there’s one thing Heirman remembers about Jackson and Poole’s friendship, it’s the budding friendly rivalry. Poole tried in vain to get Jackson to come to Michigan with him, but Jackson had his sights set on Tom Izzo’s program. Soon the rival school flags were hanging on opposite walls of their LaLu dorm room. And the trash talk followed.
“They had friendly banter all day and that carried onto the floor,” Heirman said.
Now up against each other in these playoffs, Jackson and Poole have been budding stars.
Poole is averaging 23 points per game this series and shooting 37% from 3. His most impactful points have been penetrating the paint, rolling layups over defenders like Jackson — when Jackson can’t get a hand on it. Jackson is averaging 20.3 points and torched the Warriors in Game 1, hitting those six 3s and grabbing 10 rebounds.
“We knew we would get to the league,” Poole said. “Little did we know we’d be in the Western Conference together, let alone playing together in the playoffs. As cliche as it sounds, we used to dream about it.”