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In the time since he has left the Warriors, guard Jordan Poole has been put through the grinder. At one point last year, he was portrayed as the innocent victim of the hot temper and fist-first approach of Golden State star Draymond Green, who famously punched Poole in the face after some practice trash talk in training camp. That was the tale, until the Warriors decided to re-sign Green in free agency and dump Poole in a trade for Chris Paul.
Then, the narrative around Jordan Poole shifted—now he was the bad guy, the flippant and selfish young player who goaded Green into his violent outburst. The Warriors needed to flip the script that way, to fit the story to the transactions.
Now, Poole is in Washington and his future with the Wizards is in some question. This week, veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein asked a question about Poole on his Substack: “Did the Washington Wizards trade for Jordan Poole to try to rebuild his trade value to move him on in a future trade … or to make him a cornerstone player of their post-Bradley Beal future?”
He then answered his own question. Citing, “various league observers,” Stein wrote that more think it is the former, that the Wizards are looking to flip Poole in a trade. That means the young ex-Warriors star could be on the move again, maybe later or maybe sooner.
Jordan Poole Trade Not Happening Soon
From my own conversations around the NBA, a Poole trade will probably come later than sooner. His trade value will need some time to rebuild, and it is going to be difficult to rebuild it in Washington, where the Wizards are 2-11 and already taking an every-man-for-himself approach. Poole is averaging 16.6 points, with 38.9% shooting from the field and 28.4% from the 3-point line.
He is in the first year of a deal slated to pay him $128 million over four years, per Spotrac. That’s a problem when it comes to his value around the league. Also a problem is that Poole is an inefficient volume scorer, a shooter who is not a particularly good shooter.
He has had one season in which he shot better than the league average from the 3-point line, in his pre-contract season, 2021-22. Even then, he shot 36.4%, only 0.8% better than the league average. In all other years, he has shot: 27.9%; 35.1%; and 33.6%, leading into this year’s abominable percentage.
“The Warriors did not really want to give him that money, but they knew they had to and that they could move him on later—they were hoping he would play better and they could get something more for him than Chris Paul, but that didn’t happen,” one league executive told Heavy Sports. “But now Jordan Poole is the Wizards’ problem. They’re stuck with him. You’re not going to get a first-round pick. The Warriors were lucky to just get out from the contract. The Warriors had to give away a first-rounder to dump him.”
Warriors Had to Include 1st-Rounder to Make Trade
Indeed, the Warriors sent a 2030 first-round pick to the Wizards, along with young players Ryan Rollins and Pat Baldwin Jr. (a 2022 first-rounder) to get off of the Jordan Poole contract and get what amounts to one year of Chris Paul, who is 38 and has a non-guaranteed contract after this season.
If the Wizards were hoping to flip Poole at some point, that point will not be coming soon.
“He needs a full year of playing better,” the executive said. “He needs to shoot it better. Leadership, he needs to be a leader. He needs to win a few games with that team. You also have to have that contract about halfway over because no one is committing a-hundred-and-twenty-something million to Jordan Poole. We used to call guys like that, ‘albatross’ because of how they weighed on you.”
It’s $128 million, of course. And getting rid of half of it means he might not be a legitimate trade target until around this time in 2025. If Washington hopes to rehab his value, then, it is a long-term project.
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