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It's one thing to be on a hot streak, but Jordan Poole has two 40-plus point games within the last few days. The Washington Wizards' leader showed out during his 42-point (15-29 FG, 6-15 3 PT) outing vs. the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night, giving him momentum heading into the All-Star Break.
Poole was on a confidence high in the locker room after the game.
I asked Jordan Poole what these 40+ point games do for his confidence, especially considering how he’s grown since entering the NBA.
“A lot of it is just my role…coach BK put me in a position to be aggressive…I feel like I’m extremely hard to stop out there.” pic.twitter.com/IBHgOI7Nfu
— Joshua Valdez (@joshvaldez100) February 13, 2025
“I feel like I'm extremely hard to stop out there. That's why they gotta send two or three people at me pretty consistently,” Poole smiled. “Just try to be aggressive. Once shots start going in, we start getting easy shots, and it really helps our team. I'm just trying to help build confidence in these other guys as well.”
Indeed, Poole's mixture of off-dribble shooting and high-speed drives makes him a dynamic scorer that's nearly impossible to guard one-on-one. At the same time, the former NBA champion's facilitation helps Washington's young talent develop.
Poole had five assists across 40 minutes in the 134-130 overtime loss against the Pacers (30-23), which was tied for third on the team. That almost exactly aligns with the 25-year-old's season average of 4.9 dimes per game, which leads the Wizards (9-45) and is a career-high.
This season has been a revelation for Poole, as he's shined after being given the keys to an NBA franchise for the first time in his career. The Michigan alum began as a part-time starter with the Golden State Warriors and contributed to their 2022 title before getting traded to Washington in '23, where he temporarily got benched amid an inconsistent first season. This year, though, he's taken the leadership role and run with it.
Jordan Poole is aggressive, but team-first for Wizards
Poole reflected on how much he's grown in the 2024-25 campaign.
“Yeah, I've felt pretty comfortable. A lot of it is just my role. I talked about it earlier in the season, coach BK [Brian Keefe] has put me in a position to be aggressive, to go score, to get out in transition, but also to get my guys involved,” the 6-foot-4-inch, 194-pounder said. “I'm seeing a lot of different coverages, I'm getting a lot of pressure, a lot of double teams, a lot of hard hedges throughout the course of the game, but it's also making my teammates better because I'm trying to put them in positions to be successful.”
Poole's assists went to four different players: Bub Carrington, Corey Kispert, Bilal Coulibaly, and Alex Sarr. Four of the shots were threes, and Carrington made two of them. While Kispert is a fourth-year veteran, the other three are less-experienced players who benefit from their older teammates getting them involved.
“I think with the way that we're playing right now, and the style of play that we have, it's really hard to focus and pinpoint on one particular person because the ball moves so much, and everybody's involved,” the 2019 first-round pick said. “We're just trying to find the best possible shot, and coach has given me the green light to be aggressive.”
Sometimes, the best move is Poole calling his own number, and other times it's getting a rookie like Carrington involved. The bottom line is that even though the sixth-year veteran often takes the most shots, he's not selfish.
“I've always been a team-first player, so anything I can do to help us gain a slight advantage whether it's on the offensive side or trying to get somebody a good look is something that I feel confident in,” Poole said.
Assisting Carrington's first-quarter threes helped spark the 19-year-old to an 18-point (6-11 FG, 4-6 3PT) outing across 44 minutes. That's yet another good performance for the Castrol's Rising Star after scoring a career-high 23 points in Saturday's 125-111 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Combine that with Poole's career-high 45 points vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, and it's clear that Washington's offense is in the best place it's been in for the last couple of seasons. For example, the Wizards' 23 made threes vs. Indiana set a new franchise record, and that was only one game after having all nine of their players score double-digit points in the 131-121 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. That was the first time in team history that it had an entire rotation of at least nine players score that much.
It's fitting that Pacers coach Rick Carlisle gushed about Washington's rebuild before Wednesday's game.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle is impressed with the #Wizards rebuild.
“I like their drafts…they have veterans in the building which always helps…and they’re doing it with accountability, which is how you have to do it.” pic.twitter.com/FQnkiJ5Cg4
— Joshua Valdez (@joshvaldez100) February 12, 2025
“[I'm] impressed. I like their drafts, I like the job that Brian Keefe is doing,” the former NBA champion and Coach of the Year said. “They're playing fast, they're playing hard. They've got some veterans mixed in, which I think really helps in developing young players. And they're doing it with a level of accountability, which is how you have to do it.”
Carlisle doesn't freely hand out praise, so that comment should excite Washington fans.
The Wizards can now rest over the All-Star Break, except for Rising Stars Carrington, Sarr, and Coulibaly, as well as G League Up Next players Justin Champagnie and Jaylen Nowell. Washington then hosts the Milwaukee Bucks (29-24) on Feb. 21.
