Warriors parade ‘feels like a dream’ for first-time champions Andrew
Wiggins, Jordan Poole
The Warriors championship parade was a euphoric and sometimes
overwhelming experience for first timers Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins.
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 20: Golden State Warriors’ Andrew
Wiggins (22) holds up a Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy a he greets
fans during the Championship Parade on Market Street in San Francisco,
Calif., on Monday, June 20, 2022. The Warriors won their fourth NBA
Championship in eight seasons after defeating the Boston Celtics in the
Game 6. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 20: Golden State Warriors’ Andrew
Wiggins (22) holds up a Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy a he greets
fans during the Championship Parade on Market Street in San Francisco,
Calif., on Monday, June 20, 2022. The Warriors won their fourth NBA
Championship in eight seasons after defeating the Boston Celtics in the
Game 6. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 20, 2022 at 6:50 p.m. | UPDATED: June 21, 2022 at 12:15 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/06/20/warriors-andrew-wiggins-jordan-poole-enjoy-first-championship-parade-it-feels-like-a-dream/

SAN FRANCISCO — Jordan Poole cupped one ear and leaned over the side of
the bus encouraging the crowd to roar. He then hopped to the other side
and did the same thing.

The second group, far louder than the first, won.

The prize? A bottle of champagne sprayed in their direction. He poured
the leftover bubbly into a water gun before spraying Dubs Nation as he
celebrated his greatest accomplishment yet, an NBA championship.

Hundreds of thousands of fans flocked to San Francisco and packed the
1.5-mile parade route to commemorate another Warriors title. Some
supporters climbed scaffoldings, street signs and bus stops just to
catch a glimpse at the Warriors buses as they rolled by.

“It feels like a dream,” Andrew Wiggins said.

It sure did.

>SAN FRANCISCO, CA – JUNE 20: Golden State Warriors’ Jordan Poole takes
the stage as he is introduced during the Championship Parade and rally
on Market Street in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, June 20, 2022. The
Warriors won their fourth NBA Championship in eight seasons after
defeating the Boston Celtics in the Game 6. (Ray Chávez/Bay Area News
Group)

The parade has almost become an annual ritual for fans and some of the
Warriors — Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala
and Steve Kerr have played a part now in four in eight years; and Kevon
Looney three. But for first timers like Poole, Wiggins and this
reporter, it was a euphoric and at times overwhelming experience in all
the best ways.

Wiggins and Poole, who shared a double-decker bus with their friends and
family, had seen clips of previous victory processions on TV and social
media in past years, though nothing could prepare them for the
exhilarating scene of fans lined up more than a dozen deep, waving
handmade signs and chanting their names.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Poole said sitting inside his bus for a
moment of relief from the scorching sun. “Coming into it with no
expectations is pretty awesome because you get to experience all of it.
It is everything I thought it would be, it’s cool.”

“Everything I imagined and more, this is crazy,” Wiggins said on the
ride back to Chase Center. “To be a part of it, it’s different.”

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 20: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen
Curry, third from left, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green share a laugh
from the comments of their teammate, Klay Thompson, during the
Championship Parade on Market Street in San Francisco, Calif., on
Monday, June 20, 2022. The Warriors won their fourth NBA Championship in
eight seasons after defeating the Boston Celtics in the Game 6. (Ray
Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

This reporter, also experiencing a championship parade on a float for
the first time, can concur. The players’ proud parents also described
the day as nothing short of a thrill of a lifetime.

“Somebody asked me, ‘Are you still pinching yourself?’ I need to bite my
arm because it’s just crazy,” said Poole’s mother, Monet, who yelled
“That’s my son!” to some fans dressed in swimming garb in honor of the
Poole party. “It is surreal for sure and couldn’t be with a better group
of guys and the organization is phenomenal.”

Everyone on the buses thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they sipped from
gold chalices, red solo cups or in some cases straight out of the
bottle. They danced in the aisles as Wiggins served as a DJ.

Perhaps no one was more active during the three-hour procession than
Poole, who spent more time on the street than the bus.

Poole signed innumerable autographs on a variety of items — from hats,
shirts and basketballs to some man’s random brown rain jacket — and
possibly snapped even more photos. He took a reporter’s microphone to
interview Wiggins and then grabbed another person’s camera to record his
first-person account of the festivities.

Poole, who turned 23 Sunday, said this was the perfect way to ring
another trip around the sun. His mother agreed.

“There’s nothing I need to buy him [for a gift],” Monet Poole said. “You
will never compare to this as a birthday gift.”

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 20: The Golden State Warriors team
pose for photos with the Larry O’Brien Championship trophies during the
Championship rally and parade on Market Street in San Francisco, Calif.,
on Monday, June 20, 2022. The Warriors won their fourth NBA Championship
in eight seasons after defeating the Boston Celtics in Game 6. (Ray
Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Wiggins was overcome with joy throughout the day as a smile rarely left
his face. Long behind him are the days of being a scapegoat for the
Timberwolves woes. He’s found a new home in the Bay Area, where he hopes
to stay.

“He’s been a great fit here,” said his father, Mitchell Wiggins, who
played six seasons in the NBA. “He’s going to be here for a while and I
think he’s very happy.”

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Andrew Wiggins waved at the crowd as they chanted his name numerous
times. The Toronto native especially lit up when he found someone
wearing an old jersey of his or waving a Canadian flag. At one point, he
had his 3-year-old daughter perched on his hip as he went down the line
high-fiving fans.

“I’m living in the moment right now, soaking it all in and enjoying it,
but the journey, the grind, makes this feel so much better,” Wiggins
said. “I knew today was going to be crazy. I knew the fans were going to
be pumped, energetic, I prepared myself for this. I was ready for it. I
enjoyed myself.”

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 20: Golden State Warriors’ Andrew
Wiggins (22) holds up a Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy a he greets
fans during the Championship Parade on Market Street in San Francisco,
Calif., on Monday, June 20, 2022. The Warriors won their fourth NBA
Championship in eight seasons after defeating the Boston Celtics in the
Game 6. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

The metal barricade only kept fans at bay for so long. Wiggins actually
caught a fan from falling over.

Slowly but surely, however, people pressed through and approached
Wiggins and Poole as they hopped on and off their ride throughout the
march. By the end, however, so many fans swarmed them and the Larry
O’Brien Championship Trophy in Wiggins’ possession that the players
needed to be escorted back to safety — but not before Poole sprayed the
crowd with champagne one last time.

Poole and Wiggins are hoping this is the first of many championship
celebrations that they can be part of. But for now, the two are going to
savor this year’s title for a few more days before getting back to work.

“Wherever the party goes, I go,” Wiggins said.

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 20: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen
Curry (30) holds up his Finals MVP trophy during the Golden State
Warriors’ Championship Parade on Market Street in San Francisco, Calif.,
on Monday, June 20, 2022. The Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics to
win their fourth NBA Championship in eight years. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area
News