Who should be the starting guard next to Jordan Poole for the Wizards?

Jordan Poole has steadily improved every season in the league and was bound to become a star soon. Unfortunately, the Golden State Warriors wouldn’t be able to grant that starting spot with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both still there and effective. Due to this, they dealt him to the Washington Wizards.

Poole will undoubtedly be a starting guard on this rebuilding Wizards team. The mystery is figuring who will be the ideal fit alongside Poole. This new roster has plenty of guards at disposal and have a big decision to make coming into the season.

Here are the guards coming into the 2023-24 season:

Jared Butler

Johnny Davis

Ryan Rollins

Landry Shamet

Tyus Jones

Delon Wright

The players who I think will potentially be fighting for minutes at the guard spots are Davis, Jones, and Wright. Poole would likely have the ball in his hands more often than not next season, but the Wizards need a reliable ball handler to complement him. Let’s go through the options.

Johnny Davis could emerge as a starter next season for the Washington Wizards

Davis has shown flashes of good play during the end of last season. He was the Wizards’ 2022 lottery pick so he will definitely get some run to show what he can do coming into his second season.

He will probably get some run at the shooting guard position, moving Jordan to the 1. Jordan got some run at the point last season with the Warriors and shown flashes he can be the lead guard at times, averaging 4.5 assists. Davis hasn’t shown much playmaking ability as of yet but has shown he can score the ball.

Delon Wright could expand on his excellent 2022-’23 campaign with a starting role

Wright was the backup point last season. Even though he was a mainstay in the rotation, he probably won’t be next season, or probably not in the team. I can see him being dealt before the season starts. But if he were to stay, his defensive abilities can help build a culture for this young roster. Certainly, he could be a major aspect in the already decent defense put together by the Wizards.

Tyus Jones is still undoubtedly the best option to start next to Jordan Poole

I feel that Jones will win the starting spot over the rest of the guards. He posted career highs in scoring and assists last season (10.3 & 5.2). His assist to turnover ratio was tied for first at 5.4 (NBA Basketball Player Stats – Assist to Turnover Ratio). He has also led the league in that category for the last five seasons.

With his vision and ball protection, he can be very valuable alongside a player like Poole, who does have a tendency to make some crazy decisions with the basketball. Jones can help to get the offense ignited and he also provides shooting from 3-point range (37% on 4 attempts).

He is known as arguably the best backup point guard in the league, but he will most likely have the opportunity to prove he can be a starter on this team. As a starter, his scoring went up to 12 ppg and assists went up to 6.9 per game, while only turning the ball over at an average of 1.2. These stats are very impressive and can serve him very well when the coaching staff starts to evaluate who is the best fit as the starting guard alongside Jordan Poole.