The Washington Wizards are in an interesting spot as the offseason approaches.
Washington's front office has made it clear that the team's young core is the priority moving forward as their development alone could fast forward their rebuild, or set it back.
General manager Will Dawkins made the move to offload Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valanciunas at the deadline, and in turn he brought back multiple other veterans such as Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart to add a different layer of mentorship to group.
And while these players' future with the Wizards seems obvious (they won't be in D.C. long), there's one veteran player who seems poised to be in Washington long-term, but it may not be in the team's best interest.
Wizards need to move on from Jordan Poole
Jordan Poole was benched last season before using the demotion as motivation heading into this year. The Michigan product took the challenge to improve head on and he went to work in the offseason looking to prove that he could be the player head coach Brian Keefe expected him to be.
The Wizards guard has put together a career year in Washington averaging 21 points, 4.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds, while shooting 41.9% from field goal range and 37% from beyond the arc.
Even then, it's clear that Poole's fit with the Wizards in the future doesn't bring them any closer to returning to contention. In fact, his fit on the roster could alone be the biggest thing hindering the team's development.
Although Poole has seemingly improved as a facilitator and made it a point of emphasis to get his teammates involved, at least more than he used to; the fact of the matter is that Poole will always take the most shots on the team while he's on the Wizards. And on a team who's prioritizing the development of their young players, Washington must find a way to have the attention centered more around their core.
And with Ryan Russillo labeling Poole as the "worst best player in the NBA" that alone should tell you everything you need to know.
For the Wizards to finally show that their priority truly is building towards the future, they have to move off of Poole, who has two more years remaining on his contract.
Then again, like Russillo mentioned, Poole helps losing more than he does winning so their are pros and cons to having him on the roster.