Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Jordan Poole Fires Hot Take On One Wizards Teammate

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Gerard Angelo Samillano | Last updated Apr 17, 2025 10:08 PM ET

The Washington Wizards have some intriguing young players on their roster. Despite finishing the season with an 18-64 record, the rookies and sophomores on the team showed their capabilities. This has given fans hope that next season will be much more competitive than the last two years.

One of these young stars on the Wizards is French sophomore Bilal Coulibaly. Billed as a potential defensive savant, Coulibaly has improved on that end while being tasked to mark the best players on the opposing team. His teammate, Jordan Poole, believes that the former 2023 first-round pick is an "up-and-coming star".

"Jordan Poole referred to Bilal Coulibaly as a 'young and up-and-coming star in this league,'" Chase Hughes reported. "He said they will have some 'battles this summer' because they can help each other out; he wants to train against a top NBA defender and Bilal wants to guard top scorers."

Coulibaly was drafted with the seventh overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. After a solid rookie season, the Wizards sophomore continued to build upon that performance in Year 2. Coulibaly was a bright spot in what was otherwise pretty rough year for Washington on the defensive end. He tallied 1.3 steals per game and tallied the fifth-most defensive win shares on the team.

That being said, if Coulibaly wants to be a star, he has to make some improvements on the offensive end. His increased production on offense (12.3 points, a 3.9 point increase from last year) came with a decrease in his percentages, especially his three-point shooting (28.1%, down from 34.6% last season).

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: