The Washington Wizards are all over the place as a franchise right now, but one of their stars looked incredible during the season opener.
Washington ended up losing 122-102 to the powerhouse Boston Celtics on Thursday night, but the Wizards led early in the game behind a wondrous display from 25-year-old combo guard Jordan Poole.
Poole came out of the gate firing — and hitting — threes from everywhere, and Boston’s normally stout defenders looked momentarily helpless. It was a first half showing reminiscent of Poole’s most iconic performances as a member of the Golden State Warriors, the kind of play that generated league-wide buzz surrounding his potential and earned Poole a $128 million rookie extension.
Poole finished Thursday’s game with 26 points on 6-for-11 shooting from three. Only one other Wizard hit a three-point shot in the game.
After a weird season last year, is Poole returning to form and reclaiming his talent as one of the most explosive scoring guards in the NBA? That’s what looked to be the case versus Boston. It’s a small sample size, of course.
As good as Poole at his best can be, that’s still not going to make the Wizards a contending team. Washington might want to consider leveraging Poole’s return to form by trading him for more draft assets since they are still years away from relevance at this point.
A useful and willing trading partner for the Wizards in this scenario could be the Los Angeles Lakers, who are on the prowl for a scorer of Poole’s caliber to help them enter contention status.
Los Angeles could send D’Angelo Russell’s expiring contract — along with former Wizard Rui Hachimura — over to Washington for Poole, attaching a trove of first round picks to the package. The Lakers own their first rounder in 2026, plus all of their first rounders from 2028 until 2031. Any/all of these picks could be highly valuable if and when the Lakers fall into decline following the LeBron era.
If Washington could grab at least two first rounders from the Lakers for Poole, it would be a deal worth considering.
