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James Wiseman got a rude awakening about the importance of rookie duties early on. The Warriors rookie told The Undefeated that the veterans, who were notorious for their sometimes costly poker games, tasked him with bringing a case of poker chips for the team on every road trip.
Wiseman said Stephen Curry told him, “‘Rook, I’ma give you these poker chips but you’ve got to protect them with your life.’”
And then Wiseman forgot them, and the wrath of Klay Thompson ensued.
“Man, Klay lit my ass, up,” Wiseman said. “He was like, ‘Damn rook, how you forgettin’ them poker chips!’ That was like my first mistake ever, losing the poker chips. Everybody was clowning me. They was like, ‘Man, you forgot the poker chips!’”
During the Warriors’ title run, Thompson said he used to get “killed” in the Warriors’ poker games, which featured David Lee, who was coached up by poker pro Phil Hellmuth, Draymond Green, who was in a Poker After Dark episode, and other savvy vets like Curry and Andre Iguodala.