5 players you won’t believe ESPN says are better than Desmond Bane

No. 55 Jordan Poole vs No. 68 Desmond Bane

Lastly, Jordan Poole was ranked 55 on ESPN’s top 26-100 list.

In my opinion, there is no way that the difference between Desmond Bane and Jordan Poole should be 13 spots in favor of Poole.

Poole had a spectacular season with the Warriors, as he finished the regular season averaging 18.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists while shooting 44.8% from the field and 36.4% from three. Those stats look awfully similar to Bane’s stats with the Grizzlies from the regular season.

Poole certainly provided a reliable scoring option that the Warriors desperately needed when Klay Thompson was unavailable, and had that microwave ability that when activated was extremely hard to stop.

On the other side of the court however, Poole was not even a league average defender and is not comparable to Desmond Bane in any capacity.

He ranked 32.7% as an on-ball defender according to B-ball Index, compared to Bane being 79.2%. Poole’s matchup difficulty on a nightly basis was in the 25.9% amongst every other player in the league, with Desmond Bane being in the 92.7%.

The fact that Desmond Bane had to guard the first or second best option in practically every single game he played, but still managed to be that much more of an impactful defender speaks volumes when comparing the two.

Now let’s play a little game.

Listed below are the playoff stats for both Jordan Poole and Desmond Bane. Without knowing which one is which, decide who you would have rather had in a playoff run.

Player A - 17.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 0.8 SPG, 2.4 TOV, 50.8 FG% (11.5 FGA), 39.1 3P% (5.8 3PA), 91.5 FT% (3.2 FTA).

Player B - 18.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.9 SPG, 1.3 TOV, 47.8 FG% (13.3 FGA), 48.9 3P% (7.3 3PA) 85.7 FT% (2.9 FTA).

Player A is Jordan Poole, while Player B is Desmond Bane. Pretty tough, right?

The fact that their numbers and their impact on the offensive side of the ball are so similar, Bane clearing Poole defensively, and Bane having one less year of experience shows that the gap is definitely not as large as ESPN wants you to think, if there is any gap at all.

In my opinion, while it is definitely close, Desmond Bane has a slight edge over Jordan Poole and should be ranked ahead of him on ESPN’s top 100 list.

Desmond Bane made a historic jump from year one to year two, and has already become one of the best three-and-D players in the league on one of the best teams in the NBA. Despite this, he continues to be underrated by media members around the league.

Something tells me that Bane likes this though, and expect another leap in production during the 2022-23 season that will show his true value to the Grizzlies and those who have overlooked him up to this point.