Fantasy basketball: Jordan Poole among biggest draft-day misses

Fantasy basketball: Jordan Poole among biggest draft-day misses

Fantasy basketball: Jordan Poole among biggest draft-day misses When fantasy basketball managers selected

Washington Wizards SG/PG Jordan Poole with their third-round draft picks this season,

it hardly appeared like they were taking a huge gamble. After all, Poole averaged 20.4 points per game and 29.9 fantasy

points for the Golden State Warriors during the previous campaign; these figures were undoubtedly influenced by his position and the

abundance of skilled players in his immediate vicinity, such as future Hall of Fame point guard Stephen Curry.

With the trade to Washington, Poole’s career trajectory was expected to improve since his eagerness to shoot and score seemed to be unrestricted. Managers of fantasy teams definitely bought in.

It’s evident after a few months of the 2023–24 campaign that Poole hasn’t really taken advantage of his chance to establish himself as

one of the league’s breakout players. At first, ESPN Fantasy had him averaging 28.6 points per game,

which made sense given the

Wizards’ dearth of talent. With few players who could make an impact around them, Poole and PF/SF Kyle Kuzma would shoulder the

offensive load. With an average of 23.2 points per game and 37.1 fantasy points, Kuzma is performing well for the

Wizards and fantasy managers.

Meanwhile, Poole is the only player selected in the top 50 of ESPN average live drafts currently rostered

in less than 90% of leagues. This is quite telling.

Poole’s poor decision-making and passive, almost apathetic performance have led to memes, and he has averaged 17.4 PPG and 25.8

fantasy points. Maybe it’s the awareness that, barring a trade to a contender, Poole won’t be

making the playoffs this spring, as the

tanking Wizards are headed for what could be the worst season in team history when they play the Warriors on Friday night on ESPN.

It’s also Poole’s homecoming. Poole was expected to add more members to the Washington delegation,

but instead everyone appears dissatisfied.

Rather of making the most of his chance, Poole only attempts 14.9 field goals on average each game and shoots 30% from three-point

range. He was a potent scorer and 3-point shooter last season, averaging 24.6 PPG across 43 starts

and a strong 15.9 PPG as a reserve. 4.5 APG was his average. 5.1 times per game, he visited the free throw line.

Although this side of Poole is less well-known, his performance against Sacramento on Monday,

where he made eight 3-pointers out of 13 tries while grabbing just two rebounds and assisting just twice,

was more in line with predictions.

Fantasy managers may not have much recourse here. Unless Poole starts taking a more aggressive approach on offense,

and hits a better percentage of shots, this looks nothing like a top-50 fantasy option,

so trading for Poole seems unwise. He entered Thursday’s game at Portland outside the top 100 fantasy scorers this season,

behind such luminaries as Kyle Lowry, Saddiq Bey and Jaime Jaquez Jr., none of them top 140 draft day picks. Poole went 29th on

average. It is safe to say he is the biggest fantasy miss of the season.

Of course, Poole is not the only fantasy miss of the season. Here are some others, with thoughts.

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