After a forgettable first season with the Wizards, Jordan Poole is off to a much better start in year two, writes Varun Shankar of The Washington Post. Despite losing Wednesday’s game in San Antonio, Poole was terrific, recording 42 points on 15-of-22 shooting, six assists, two rebounds and two steals.
As Shankar notes, Poole opened last season as the starting shooting guard, but after struggling for much of 2023/24, head coach Brian Keefe moved him to the bench to be a primary play-maker. Poole returned to the starting lineup as point guard late last season when Tyus Jones was injured, and he’s happy to have more on-ball opportunities again in ’24/25.
“I think [this game] is the perfect example [of the benefits of switching to point guard],” Poole said after Wednesday’s 42-point outburst.
Through 10 games (30.7 MPG), the 25-year-old is averaging 22.2 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 4.4 APG, 2.3 SPG and 0.7 BPG, with an efficient shooting line of .457/.444/.923. Several of those statistics represent career highs.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- In the draft lottery in 2023, the Wizards were one ping-pong ball away from landing the No. 1 overall pick and the chance to select French phenom Victor Wembanyama. On Wednesday, he showed them what they missed by pouring in a career-high 50 points on 18-of-29 shooting, including going 8-of-16 from long distance, Shankar writes for The Post. While they have some promising young talent, Washington lacks a clear-cut star to build around like Wembanyama, Shankar notes.
- Poole and second-year forward Bilal Coulibaly are among the Wizards whose stock is up through 10 games, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, who says Alex Sarr and Kyle Kuzma are trending in the opposite direction early on in ’24/25. Washington’s 2-8 record is actually good thing for the future, Robbins adds, as the team needs to secure another high lottery pick for a 2025 draft class that is viewed as having plenty of high-end talent.
- Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network shares some early statistical trends for the Wizards’ trio of rookie first-round picks — Sarr, Carlton Carrington and Kyshawn George.