The Golden State Warriors didn’t usher in the new era of Warriors basketball in the way that they would have wanted to.

The first meaningful game in San Francisco’s state-of-the-art Chase Center was a 141-122 thrashing at the hands of Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers, a stark reminder of the Thanos-like decimation of, arguably, the most powerful collection of talent the NBA has ever assembled.

Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston were snapped away, turned to dust by the inevitability of the basketball gods through injury, free agency, and time.

Draymond Green, one of just six (including Thompson) returning Warriors from last year’s Western Conference champs, noted “this is reality.”

Reality is often disappointing and after a half-decade of unprecedented dominance, the Warriors -- and their fans -- have to come to terms with the reality that every non-Steve Kerr Golden State team in the history of the NBA has lived in: winning games is hard.

But one game isn’t the end of the world for the Warriors -- even though they certainly didn’t put their best foot forward on Opening Night -- and, despite Green’s distaste for moral victories, it looks like the team might have found something really exciting in Jordan Poole.

Poole, the 28th overall pick in the 2019 Draft, is a key part of the Warriors’ youth movement, a concerted effort to put young pieces around the Warriors’ championship core to prolong their window.

Though none of his stats jump off the page, Poole’s performance stood out as a sign of a bright future for the 20-year-old guard. The rookie scored just 5 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and dished out 2 assists in 21 minutes of action.

The most eye-grabbing number from his line was his 13 field goal attempts. Though he only made two of them -- knocking down just one of his seven shots from beyond-the-arc -- it was refreshing to see a young Warrior letting it fly.

Since the class of 2012, the Warriors haven’t had much success developing young talent outside of Kevon Looney.

With late draft picks and a team full of veterans eating up all the minutes, Kerr’s coaching staff hasn’t had an immediate need to turn prospects into serviceable rotation players though it caught up to them in last year’s Finals.

In his debut, Poole flashed a level of aggressiveness that the Warriors haven’t gotten from one of their young players in years.

For reference, Patrick McCaw shot the ball 13 times in a game just once in his career with the Warriors. Big man Damian Jones never did it. Jacob Evans’ career-high is 10 field goal attempts. Even 26-year-old ex-Warrior Alfonzo McKinnie surpassed that total only one time with Golden State.

While Stephen Curry and D’Angelo Russell will be shouldering the bulk of the scoring load, the Warriors will need production from other places. Far too often, Golden State’s role players over the last few years have played hot potato, looking like a deer in headlights until they could give the ball back to one of the stars.

Poole doesn’t seem to be that type of player.

Debuting off the bench against, arguably, the best team in the NBA, Poole made the most of his 21 minutes.

The Warriors created a lot of good looks and he didn’t hesitate. He displayed a strong pump fake and good balance on his jumper.

According to Klay Thompson, Poole beat the injured Splash Brother in a few shooting drills, an impressive feat for a player a few months removed from college.

Poole seems to have the mentality that makes every great shooter, including Stephen Curry and Thompson, great. No matter how much he missed, he continued to bomb away when he was open.

Even if he misses, that threat of a shot forces defenses to honor him, opening up opportunities for Curry and Russell to drive. During last year’s Finals, the Toronto Raptors could swarm Curry because their disciplined defense understood that Green, Iguodala, Livingston, and even Jonas Jerebko had no interest in shooting the ball.

As he gets more reps and more comfortable with the speed of the NBA, Poole’s shot will start falling.

Poole doesn’t need to take double-digit attempts to be productive, but that assertiveness will earn his teammates’ trust, stretch defenses, and open up more minutes for him.

It’s too soon to make a declaration about the player he’s going to become, but, in just his first game, he’s shown that he isn’t afraid of the bright lights of the NBA. That confidence is going to land him an important role on a team looking for as much scoring as possible.

The Warriors have been counted out by nearly everyone. The threat of the fall of their dynasty looms large, murmurings growing louder after a flat first game.

Perhaps Poole -- and his unabashed belief in himself, as evidenced by his willingness to continue shooting even on an off night -- is something the rest of the team, including Curry and Green, can feed off of.

Kerr and Golden State will need to be patient with him as he finds his footing in the league, but he’s already got the hard part down. He knows he belongs in the NBA.

The Warriors finally seem to finally have a young perimeter player who looks ready to take shots and be an active contributor to the offense.