NBA's Jordan Poole on Critics, Trolls and Memes: 'We're Attracted to the Negativity'

Washington Wizards guard Jordan Poole hasn't been a stranger to a heavy amount of criticism on social media. However, as noted in an interview with Andscape's Martenzie Johnson, Poole ignores all the noise and offers this perspective.

"We're just in an era where we're attracted to the negativity," Poole said.

As Johnson noted, Poole has particularly been the ire of critics this year as he finishes out a disappointing season on a last-place Washington Wizards team.

"But it wasn't just Poole's poor play and the team's underwhelming output. Poole almost immediately became the punchline of jokes on social media, from both everyday users and corporate accounts. There's making fun of someone for doing something silly, but then there's the jokes made about Poole. It seems that social media users, particularly on X, formerly known as Twitter, have found a social currency in mentioning Poole's name."

Poole also carries himself with a tremendous amount of confidence on the court, which perhaps draws more attention to him than most. Poole told Johnson he believes the attacks are in response to that confidence and his style of play.

"The confidence thing has always stood out and been a staple just because not everybody's a fan of that, just because not everyone has confidence," he said. "Those who don't have confidence are probably the ones who are hating."

As for that style of play, Poole isn't afraid to take shots from anywhere on the court. He isn't afraid to take great risks either. Sometimes it works, and other times it doesn't.

Poole is only a few years removed from being a key cog on the 2021-22 Golden State Warriors championship team.

The criticism wasn't as loud then as he excelled for the Dubs. It's perhaps now more pronounced as he plays in Washington, but ultimately, Poole doesn't seem concerned about the noise. Instead, as he noted to Washington, he's more focused on controlling what he can control and being unapologetically himself.