Draymond Green: Warriors' Jordan Poole Deserves MIP with Ja Morant in NBA MVP Race

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green lobbied for teammate Jordan Poole to win the NBA's Most Improved Player award over favorite Ja Morant, via ESPN's Kendra Andrews:

"The award is called the most improved. Not who had the best year. That's the MVP. A lot of times we get it confused. No disrespect to Ja Morant, but Ja is an MVP candidate. Ja Morant isn't the Most Improved Player. He was f--king incredible last year. When you look around, the most improvement has been Jordan Poole and that goes without saying. He is the most improved."

Morant is a legitimate MVP candidate with averages of 27.4 points and 6.7 assists per game for the Memphis Grizzlies, who have the second-best record in the NBA. His improvement is also notable after his scoring average jumped 8.3 points from a year ago.

Green argued the 22-year-old was already a top player, however, with Poole making a more impressive leap from last season.

Poole averaged 12.0 points, 1.9 assists and 1.8 rebounds as a bench player in 2020-21 as the Warriors did not even make the playoffs. This season, Golden State is looking at the No. 3 seed thanks to Poole's 18.4 points, 4.0 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game.

The guard was worth negative-1.2 win shares as a rookie and just 1.9 win shares last season, but he has contributed 5.9 win shares in 2021-22, per Basketball Reference. 

"When you look at where he's come from, the steps he's taken—he's been thrown into a position that not many guys would handle well, and that's essentially to do your best Steph Curry imitation," Green said.

Stephen Curry has been sidelined by a foot injury in recent weeks and Poole has stepped up with his best stretch of his career. Over the last 19 games, he is averaging 25.5 points while shooting 42.6 percent from three-point range.

The recent praise from Green came after Poole's worst game in this run, finishing with 18 points on 3-of-19 shooting in Saturday's win over the San Antonio Spurs. The ability to stay aggressive and get to the line help the Warriors pull out a hard-fought win despite the shooting woes.

Though it might not be enough to top Morant for MIP—with Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray and Tyrese Maxey also in consideration—Poole still deserves praise for his impressive season.