Jordan Poole’s debut season struggles continue in Washington as the former champion was taken out of the starting lineup for the Wizards’ 110-130 loss to the Nuggets. Poole didn’t seem happy about the decision and let the media know after the game.
“If there’s any common sense, with the situation, you should know how I feel. But I’m just going to come out, do what I can do to help the team, keep it moving.”
Poole added to his comments, claiming he can’t control anything outside of his own performances.
“I mean, if this is a way to try to get me on ball, I guess that’s just what we have to do,” Poole said he feels he’s proved his value in many different areas on court… “I can’t do anything but control what I can control.”
These statements ring out hollow, as Poole played 30 minutes off the bench and scored 18 points on 4-17 shooting. His defense was less than impressive, with lowlights of his poor decision-making once again going viral.
Great play by Poole here. I love when we inbound the ball to the other team pic.twitter.com/k45iT7rM3T
— avid washington wizard fan (@sadlyawizardfan) February 23, 2024
Poole was benched in favor of giving Wizards’ rookie Bilal Coulibaly the start next to Tyus Jones. Coulibaly had a disappointing performance offensively, scoring just four points all game, but gave the Wizards a defensive option they haven’t had this season.
After winning a title on the Warriors as a sixth man, it’s clear Poole doesn’t want to regress into that role on a team as weak as the Wizards. However, his performance in Washington has been as bad as anyone would have expected.
He’s averaging 15.7 points on 39.6% from the field this season, with his latest benching being an indictment of how far he’s fallen in the eyes of everyone in half a season.
Jordan Poole’s Contract Is Considered Among The Worst In The NBA
Many people were surprised when the Warriors traded Poole in the first year of his four-year, $128 million extension at the start of the season for a 39-year-old Chris Paul. The Warriors even gave up second-round picks to make the deal happen, before Poole’s value further plummeted during this season.
That trade is looking like a masterstroke now, as the Warriors are off the hook for what ESPN’s Bobby Marks called one of the worst contracts in the NBA.
“I think where Golden State caught a break, and I was talking to a couple of teams about this. The Jordan Poole contract, which I thought at the time was a good value deal, a lot of teams are talking about it as one of the worst contracts in the NBA right now. (The Warriors) caught a break by flipping that because if you had been stuck with that, then you’d be headed to purgatory from a cap standpoint.”
There were rumored conversations around a possible Jordan Poole trade, but the Wizards get absolutely nothing from trading the guard at the absolute lowest point of his value.
The team is not going to be a contender anytime soon, so they should just continue playing Poole and hope he starts recapturing the form he had earlier in his career to trade him away after more time is off his current deal.
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