John Wall appears ready for his tenure with the Washington Wizards to come to an end. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Wall, whose name has popped up recently in a potential swap for Russell Westbrook of the Houston Rockets, has reportedly made clear that he would like a trade from the only NBA team for which he’s played in his career.
As Rockets/Wizards talks on Russell Westbrook-for-John Wall stall, Wall has made it clear he wants trade out of Washington to happen, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 21, 2020
Wall, of course, has not spent all that much time on the floor for the Wizards in recent years as he has worked to rehabilitate a string of injuries. But prior to all of that, Wall was one of the most explosive point guards in basketball. For his career, Wall has averaged 19 points, 9.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game.
There are reasons why a Wall deal might be extremely difficult, particularly his contract. The former No. 1 overall pick hasn’t played a game in nearly two seasons, and is slated to make $41,254,920 this year, $44,310,840 in 2021-22, and $47,366,760 in 2022-23, with the final year being a player option. His deal also includes a 15 percent trade kicker.
Basically, it’s hard to project out what John Wall is right now besides a 30-year-old guard with a string of injuries and a gigantic contract. Still, if he has his way, someone will take a bet on him, and a new team will be in his future for the first time in his NBA career.