NBA insider Marc Stein, who's also an NBC Sports Bay Area Warriors contributor, believes the Washington Wizards don't view Poole, whom they acquired from the Warriors in July for 19-year NBA veteran Chris Paul, as a franchise player but rather a significant piece to a potential move. While examining if the Wizards could just want Poole to increase his trade value or if they see him as a "cornerstone player," Stein weighed in.
"My sense, from speaking to various league observers," Stein said (h/t Inside the Wizards), "is that more believe it is the former rather than the latter."
Obviously, I wanted to be in a position to have my own team," Poole told Fischer. "Luckily, I'm able to do that so young, after learning from some of the best."
It's unclear if the Wizards feel the same way, though, especially since Poole has struggled in his first 13 games in DC. He's averaging just 16.6 points per game thus far, and his 39.6 field-goal and 28.4 percent 3-point shooting percentages are well below his career averages of 42 and 33.6, respectively. He also has gone to the charity stripe much less (2.8 this season, versus 5.1 last season), which is significant, given he led the NBA with a 92.5 free-throw percentage in the 2021-22 season. And he's shooting just 83.8 percent from the line when he does make it there.
So, if Poole wants his own team, he might have to hope the third time is the charm, should the Wizards trade him elsewhere.
Said this since day 1. Poole’s play, age, and demeanor could have changed this view but it’s not looking like that will happen. In fact, as of right now, this trade has turned out to be awful for the new front office. Can’t win them all, but handcuffing us to his long term contract combined with eating up minutes ahead of our young guys, it’s not great. We’d have to give him away at this point but who really wants to pay that kind of money for Poole? He may end up sitting out like John Wall did down in Houston.