The Warriors had a lot of surprises last season. From Steph Curry going nuclear at age 32, to two last-second losses against the Lakers and Grizzlies during the play-in games, few things were as widely-shocking as the emergence of Jordan Poole. After struggling for his first few seasons in the league, the third-year pick out of Michigan spent some time in the G-League, putting up 22 points a game on 45/33/92 shooting splits. Prior to that, the guard was putting up 5.5 points, 1.2 boards, and 0.9 assists. After returning to the Warriors lineup in March, he averaged 14.7 points, 2.1 boards, and 2.4 assists per contest. The latter half of the season bumped his numbers up significantly as he ended the year averaging 12.0/1.8/1.9 on 43/35/88 splits. This is a marked improvement in just one season alone.

The jump in Poole’s production is something that really boosted the team’s efficacy down the stretch, and many would say his play was a huge contributor to the team even making it to the play-in. In games where Steph was lighting the world on fire, a lot of the contests were still close, and it was the play of especially Poole that elevated the Dubs to tight victories. It’s not far out to believe that, with Klay Thompson sitting for the first leg of the season, that we could see some starts out of Poole which would be a great increase to his numbers. Stats-wise, he could even put up enough to earn 6th Man of the Year consideration depending on how the Warriors schedule ends up shaking out and how much he’s coming off the bench.

Jordan Poole is in one of the league’s best situations to improve. His stellar play last year was a major confidence boost, and he was getting a few looks off of pin-downs that Curry and Thompson usually get during his starting tenures. Kerr’s willingness to plan the scheme around a shooter like Poole (who, despite what his lower 3-point percentage would indicate, has shown a ton of room for improvement in that area by way of 88% from the charity stripe) is a great sign of how the bench unit may operate when the team’s at full strength. Kerr’s willingness to play Poole at the very least should be an excellent indication that he’ll see some better numbers with a higher usage rate, as many fans and pundits alike were critical of how Poole was underutilized until later in the season when he started to explode. The skill is clearly there, and in a draft that was loaded with talented guards, Poole is starting to stand out and show that he may be the steal of that class.

Although the Warriors had firecracker-scorer Kevin Porter Jr. still available on the board with their pick in 2019, Poole has shown he certainly earned the nod they gave him. He’s a major part of the Warriors young core moving forward, as there may be a point where he’s the veteran ahead of Kuminga, Wiseman and Moody when the franchise begins its transition into the post Curry-Thompson-Green years down the line. Poole is learning under the wing of the greatest point guard in NBA history, and has enough going right to become the NBA’s Most Improved Player: His uptick in production and usage with the green light off the bench, his room for improvements both as a shooter and as a true point guard, and most importantly, the support of the coaching staff and his All-Star teammates. There are few young guards in the league who are both in a position to elevate themselves and not just play, but actively contribute to a squad that looks championship-competitive ahead of the 2021-2022 season.