It was a rough start for Jordan Poole in Washington following his departure from the Golden State Warriors, but the young guard is starting to flourish with more opportunity to run the Wizards offense.
Across the first four games to start this season, Poole is looking far more like the player the Wizards envisioned they were getting when they acquired him from the Warriors last June. With Tyus Jones having departed to the Phoenix Suns in free agency, the 25-year-old has seen his point guard minutes rise from 27% of his total minutes to 58%.
Jordan Poole has rediscovered his best form to start the season
Poole's numbers are up across the board to start the season. His scoring is up from 17.4 to 22.5 points per game, his assists from 4.4 to 6.0 per game, and most shocking is the fact he leads the entire league in steals right now with a total of 12 over four games.
Yet the biggest factor may be that Poole has seemingly rediscovered his three-point shooting. He was at 33.6% during his final year with Golden State and at 32.6% last season, but has been a flamethrower to start this campaign. Not only is Poole shooting an incredible 57.1% from beyond the arc, he's also taking a career-high 8.8 attempts per game.
There's been very few if any times since the trade was made where the Warriors would have regretted their decision, or at least wished they had access to Poole for a period. In fact, this may be the very first stretch right now where Golden State are missing some of what Poole provides.
With Stephen Curry on the sidelines following his ankle injury sustained against the L.A. Clippers on Sunday, Golden State had to rely on their defense to claim back-to-back wins over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Warriors do have their own microwave bench scorer now playing a similar role to what Poole once did. Buddy Hield is leading the team in scoring at 21.2 per game, including 28 and 21-point performances in Curry's absence against the Pelicans.
Hield and Poole are the only two players in the league to have shot 50% or better from three-point range on at least 35 attempts to start the season. Given the contrasting salaries where Poole is making over $20 million more this season, there's little doubt the Warriors are more than happy with having Hield instead.