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Former Warriors guard Poole removed from Wizards’ starting lineup appeared first on NBC Sports Bay Area
Jordan Poole’s troubled first season with the Washington Wizards took a turn for the worse when he was removed from the starting lineup ahead of Thursday’s game against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena.
In the Wizards’ first game after the All-Star break, interim coach Brian Keefe decided to bench the former Warriors guard for the first time this season.
Keefe added guard Bilal Koulibaly to the starting lineup, but Poole became the first Wizard to enter the game midway through the first quarter.
After a surprising offseason trade from the Warriors to the Wizards, Poole has struggled to regain the form he had the past two seasons in Golden State.
Entering Thursday’s game, Poole was averaging 15.6 points on 40 percent shooting from the field and 30.3 percent from 3-point range.
Poole’s season has gotten worse each month, with the 24-year-old averaging just 10.3 points per game over the past seven February contests.
While being left out of the starting lineup may have been heartbreaking for Poole, his performance in the Wizards’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on February 7 was probably the lowest point of his season. He shot 0-of-5 from the field in the 25th minute but didn’t score and fouled out.
Poole was an integral part of the Warriors’ 2021-22 NBA championship team and appeared to be on his way to becoming an All-Star. But that changed when he was punched by veteran forward Draymond Green in a preseason altercation.
Still, Golden State signed Poole to a new four-year, $128 million contract before the 2022-23 season, but he took a slight step back and was traded to Washington for Chris Paul last summer.
The Wizards enter Thursday’s game with a 9-45 record and have signed Poole to contracts worth three more seasons, worth $29.6 million, $31.8 million and $34 million. He’s the highest-paid player on the franchise, so if he can’t get his head around things, he could become a liability for a rebuilding team.
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