"It was dead in Capital One" - Jordan Poole blasts Wizards supporters for weak fan support

Jordan Poole, the New Orleans Pelicans’ latest addition at point guard, appears to be thriving in his new environment — and that’s proving to be exactly what he needed.

That assessment holds, as Poole recently noted that fans in New Orleans are finally giving him and his teammates the support he never had during his last two seasons with the Washington Wizards.

Capital One crowd

Poole, a 2019 draftee out of Michigan State, first carved out his reputation with the Golden State Warriors as an electric bench plug. Following a highly controversial practice altercation with then-teammate Draymond Green, he was shipped to the Wizards in 2023.

Poole’s run in Washington turned into a mixed story. His first season was rough; the next showed stronger individual play. What didn’t change, though, was the silence in the stands and the 26-year-old didn’t hold back about it.

“The last three years [in Washington]… dead in there. It was dead in Capital One,” he remarked.

The numbers tell the same story. The Wizards reportedly ranked fourth-to-last in total and average attendance in 2021–22 and dead last in 2022–23. Then, in Poole’s final year, the team averaged just 16,898 fans per home game.

For a building with the league’s third-largest capacity — 20,356 — that’s a serious gap and it certainly doesn’t do much to create the kind of noise most players, Poole included, feed off.

However, solely blaming Wizards fans tells only part of the story. Sure, support is expected even in the worst of times, yet decades of losing seasons — Poole’s tenure didn’t change that — make consistent support hard to sustain.

New Orleans fans ignite Poole

Whether the perceived lack of noise at Capital One Arena was the fans’ fault or the players’ is debatable. What’s clear, at least for JP3, is that starting this season, he’ll finally have loud, passionate home support again.

The contrast hit him right away in New Orleans — first in preseason, then during the Pelicans’ home opener at the Smoothie King Center, an OT loss to the San Antonio Spurs in front of 18,363 fans. Despite the defeat, Poole couldn’t hide his excitement for the charged atmosphere.

“I loved it. Oh my God, I loved it,” he noted. “I went back and told all my people. It feels so good to be in an environment where the fans are engaged and you can feel the electricity in there. You can feel the positive energy. You can feel the fans chanting.”

Ultimately, for JP3, the Wizards years weren’t just about a lack of home-court energy — he felt the team itself wasn’t built the right way. Recently, when discussing his new Pelicans teammate, Kevon Looney, Poole said he was thrilled to play again with the big man he once shared the floor with in Golden State. The reason? Poole quipped that he hadn’t had a decent screen in two years — the same two years he spent in Washington.

Poole’s comments don’t entirely seem to serve his best interests. After all, the 6’3″ guard finally has the home support and reliable screen-setter he was missing so much in recent years. With that now in place, few excuses remain, and it’s now on him to deliver for the Pelicans.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 27, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

“It was dead in Capital One” – Jordan Poole blasts Wizards supporters for weak fan support

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