Jordan Poole has gone from one of the NBA’s bright young stars to one of the worst-value players within less than a season. ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks revealed that teams around the NBA are looking at Poole’s four-year, $128 million contract as one of the worst in the entire NBA.
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“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.”
Poole is in the first year of this contract, something he earned from the Warriors after the end of their 2022 championship-winning season. Poole proved to be good value for the deal last year, averaging 20.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in the regular season as an iron man.
A playoff meltdown along with his public rivalry with Draymond Green meant the Warriors had to send him to the Wizards along with picks as a salary dump to acquire Chris Paul.
Poole is averaging 15.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists this season, looking like a shadow of his former self at age 24. Many people were optimistic that getting to run his team in Washington would lead to a James Harden-esque growth for Poole, but those hopes are long gone after he’s barely been able to maintain a rotational spot on the 9-45 Wizards.
Former NBA Veteran Thinks Jordan Poole Is To Blame For His Struggles
The competitive environment on the Wizards is not good at all, with the team being a bottom-feeder this season with players that would rather pad their stats on a bad team than be competitive on a good team. The environment isn’t the best for a young player to thrive, but Poole’s issues aren’t because of the Wizards.
He has repeatedly made selfish plays which have resulted in lowlights along with clips of him disrespecting former head coach Wes Unseld Jr. Former NBA veteran Chandler Parsons explained what he thinks is the reason behind Poole’s failures in Washington.
“He’s young, he’s immature, and he’s arrogant. That is all three of those things is this play, and that’s why he’s had some personality issues. The kid can hoop. He belongs in the NBA… I think he’s being silly and this is who he is.”
He is still 24 years old and proved what he could do in a winning situation with the Warriors. There’s a chance that Washington can tap into the winning mentality he displayed in Golden State, but it won’t be easy. Trading him to a new situation makes no sense right now, as the Wizards are rebuilding and could salvage Poole’s value as another year or two are tacked off his contract.
Moving real assets to get rid of Poole makes little sense for Washington unless the team regresses with him to a point that keeping him on is hurting the franchise. They’ll have a high-lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft and could end up with guard prospects like Rob Dillingham, Isaiah Collier, or Nikola Topic who’d likely take Poole’s spot.
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