We now know when Jordan Poole will play his first game in the Bay Area since getting traded by the Golden State Warriors to the Washington Wizards last July. Anthony Slater revealed that the Wizards will pay the Warriors a visit just before Christmas Day. That will be on December 23 (Manila).
The Wizards and the Warriors are not rivals. They don’t even exist in the same conference, but that December game should be highly anticipated in large part because it gives Poole the stage for a potential monster revenge game. Lots of people will be in their feelings on that day, including Poole, who must still be stunned over the shocking end of his tenure with Golden State despite signing a four-year, $128 million extension with the Warriors in 2022. It can be remembered that Pool was a central piece of the trade package the Warriors sent to the Wizards in order to acquire future Hall of Famer Chris Paul.
In four seasons with the Warriors, who took him in the first round (28th overall) of the 2019 NBA Draft, Poole averaged 15.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 266 games for Golden State.
Poole will be let loose by the Wizards in the coming campaign. Washington is in a full-blown rebuild phase, having traded away both Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis in just a single offseason. Unlike the Warriors, Washington is not even remotely an NBA title dark horse.
Free of the pressure to win and unrestrained from any form of commitment to the Warriors plus without reason to put on a facade and play along Draymond Green for the sake of team chemistry, Poole will take the court against his former team in his old stomping grounds with the perfect setup to show Golden State it made a mistake by sending him East.