Kevin Garnett is throwing support behind the Washington Wizards, recently predicting Jordan Poole to have a breakout season like James Harden did when he joined the Houston Rockets. This is a sentiment Poole’s teammate Kyle Kuzma was happy to see a legend like Garnett share.
“Real one.”
Real one 👊🏽 https://t.co/r6SPLMYtS5
— kuz (@kylekuzma) October 12, 2023
Poole averaged 20.4 points and 4.5 assists last season on the Golden State Warriors. He was the sixth man on the roster and clearly didn’t enjoy that role.
When you add his off-court altercation with Draymond Green which hurt the locker room for the entirety of the season, Poole’s situation in Golden State went from perfect to nightmarish in one year.
He averaged a very poor 8.3 points and 4.2 assists against the Lakers in their second-round loss in the 2023 Playoffs, which was enough for Golden State to ship him out like a bad contract.
Now that he’s on a low-expectation Wizards squad, Poole can finally showcase the full range of his offensive skills with a complementary co-star in Kuzma.
What Did Kevin Garnett Say?
Ahead of the start of the 2023/24 season, Garnett was full of praise for Poole’s situation in Washington. He believes this could be the season where he discovers the same potential James Harden discovered when he left Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to lead his own team in Houston.
“Jordan Poole is the new James Harden. Remember when Harden left OKC, got to Houston and got straight at it? This is the Jordan Poole show. I look for Jordan Poole to be top 5 in scoring this year and if he don’t shoot more than 25 balls, I’ll be shocked. And if don’t have not one but a couple 60 balls this year, I’ll be shocked.”
Harden went on to win an MVP and multiple scoring titles, while also playmaking enough to win assists titles. We haven’t seen an offensive force like Harden in the modern NBA, so Poole will have to achieve a lot to live up to this comparison.
With a really supportive teammate like Kuzma and the green light to shoot whenever he wants on the Wizards, Poole could push toward a 30-point scoring average this season.
Jordan Poole Looking Forward To Being A Leader
Poole is not the young kid in a locker room full of champions anymore. His first few seasons in Golden State allowed him to purely develop his game without worrying about how to unite a locker room given the presence of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and others. There are no more veterans to hide behind, and Poole is looking forward to building a championship culture in Washington.
“We know what it takes to build a championship culture. It starts with chemistry, it starts with being able to play for your teammates, not just with your teammates. You got to really know who they are as people.”
The Wizards have been one of the least impressive franchises in the NBA for most of the last two decades. While they had great spots in their recent history during the prime of Gilbert Arenas, John Wall, and Bradley Beal, they haven’t had any material playoff success to brag about.
They likely won’t be playoff contenders in year one of a rebuild, but that could depend on how explosive Poole can be from his debut on the roster. If Poole does have Harden-like qualities in him, he will at least keep Washington in playoff contention with arguably the worst roster in the league.
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