We haven’t dove deep into some tidbits about the Wizards’ newest star. So, let’s do that today.
Washington Wizards guard Jordan Poole is about to enter his first NBA season where he’s about to get the green light to run the show! Before we start watching the “Poole Party” in full force, let’s look at some of the ties he has with current and relatively recent Wizards players based on where he’s from, where he went to college and more.
Where is Poole from?
Hint: It’s not Poolesville, Md. Sorry, Montgomery County residents.
Poole hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he went to Rufus King International High School, a magnet school in the city. Rufus King is also the alma mater for Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach Mike Wilks. And speaking of Wilks, he played four games for the Wizards in the 2007-08 season and was on their 2011 training camp roster before getting waived.
The Wizards feature two players on the current roster who are forward Patrick Baldwin, who hails from Sussex, a southern suburb in the Milwaukee Area and Johnny Davis, who hails from La Crosse, which is in the western part of the State.
The most famous recent Wizards player from Wisconsin would be Miami Heat assistant coach Caron Butler, who hails from Racine, about 30 miles south of Milwaukee. Butler played from 2005-10 for Washington and was a two-time All-Star.
Where did Poole go to college?
Unlike Baldwin and Davis, Poole did not go to college in Wisconsin to play for UW-Milwaukee (Baldwin) or UW-Madison (Davis). He played at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. No current players are Wolverines, but Kyle Kuzma is from the state of Michigan though.
Two notable Wizards players from the 1990s were Michigan alums: Chris Webber and Juwan Howard, who were part of the Fab Five during their heyday in the early part of that decade.
Howard is now the head coach of the Michigan men’s basketball team, but he started in 2019, the same year Poole was drafted. So Poole never played for Howard. But Webber and Poole do share another close connection. That’s because Webber was traded to D.C. from the Golden State Warriors.
Also, a h/t to CDKA for this one. Recent Wizards center Moritz Wagner, was Poole’s teammate at the University of Michigan. And current guard Ryan Rollins is from the State of Michigan, but he went to Toledo for college.
Which other Wizards players came from the Warriors?
During a four-year stint in D.C, Webber became an All-Star for the then-Washington Bullets in the 1996-97 season during his four-year stint in the nation’s capital. But he isn’t the only Warrior-to-Wizard who became an All-Star.
The most famous Warrior-to-Wizard to hit it big in Washington is Gilbert Arenas, widely regarded as the franchises’ most prominent star in the 21st century. Arenas came to Washington in free agency and played for Washington from 2003-04 through part of the 2010-11 season.
And though he didn’t come to the Wizards directly from Golden State, Antawn Jamison spent his first five NBA seasons there from 1998-2003 before a one-year stint with the Dallas Mavericks. He came to the Wizards in a trade with Dallas before the 2003-04 season and played through the middle of the 2009-10 season.
This can’t possibly be a fully comprehensive list of various associations Poole has. Know of any others? Let us know in the comments below!