The Washington Wizards announced that the Jordan Poole - Chris Paul trade with the Golden State Warriors has been finalized. Washington has also acquired guard Ryan Rollins and forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. and a 2030 first-round pick, a 2027 second-round pick and cash considerations.
"Jordan is an exciting young player with championship experience and a dynamic skillset," general manager Will Dawkins said in a team release. "He improves every year because of his strong work ethic, a trait that will carry over with us and help him establish a leadership role on the team."
For Craig Hoffman the final words on the statement for Dawkins about Poole caught his eye: "establish a leadership role on the team."
"That could be short-term that could be long-term, but the fact that Will Dawkins is already saying 'Jordan Poole is gonna come in and help us establish our culture,' I think tells you what they envision here," Hoffman said. "Jordan Poole is going to be the face of this basketball team along with Kyle Kuzma for as long as he and they are here. That does not mean they will not bring in someone bigger, that does not mean that Poole will be here, it doesn't even guarantee that Poole will be here past the All-Star Break.
"But they expect him to come in and put up shots and numbers, but also be a guy that says 'this is how we did it in Golden State, this how I learned it from Stephen Curry, this is how I work, I've been waiting for a bigger role, the shut me down when I wanted that in Golden State now's my chance to show you what I'm made of.' And I'm not telling you it's gonna work in some magnificent way... But I did think it was interesting that Dawkins went out of his way to mention leadership."
Of course, all that aside, on paper the transaction carries a sort of a win-win tag for the rebuilding Wizards. If the guard has a good season working with the newly re-signed Kuzma, he could be dealt for more assets. If he has a bad one for a Washington that is not too concerned with losing games next season to get a better draft pick. And, well, it could be unlikely but if he explodes into something great that will work, too.
And whole Poole had a career-high in points (20.4) and assists (4.5) in the 2022-23 season while matching his high with 30 minutes per game. However, that masked a down year for the fourth-year guard. Despite hitting a career-high in usage percentage (29.2), Poole's PER was a slightly-below average 14.6 (down from 16.1 the year prior), his win shares fell by nearly half to 3.2 (from 6.0), his box plus-minus dropped to -1.9 (from 1.00), and his value over replacement player plummeted to 0.1 (from 1.7).
Overall his field goal percentage dropped from 44.8 percent to 43.0 percent (three-point percentage down from 36.4 to 33.6), and his true shooting percentage dipped from 59.8 to 57.3.
"Patrick and Ryan are two talented young players who we know well from their draft process," Dawkins added. "We look forward to the energy they'll bring as they continue to develop within our system."
Follow @BenKrimmel for more.
Keep up with 980 The Team via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
