7:30pm: Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said that Wall was diagnosed with a right hamstring strain after an MRI, Mark Berman of FOX26 tweets. The injury occurred against the Clippers on Friday.
6:11pm: The Rockets are shutting down John Wall for the rest of the season due to a hamstring injury, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Houston has 11 games remaining. The Rockets have been a disaster since getting off to an 11-10 start, winning just four of their last 40 games. Shutting down Wall should contribute to the free fall.
Naturally, the Rockets are in great position to get one of the top three picks in the draft. Their 15-46 record is the league’s worst, giving them a 14% chance at the top pick and 52.1% shot at a top-four selection. If Houston’s pick falls outside the top four, the Thunder would receive it, swapping it for Miami’s first-rounder.
Wall has appeared in 40 games and averaged 20.6 PPG and 6.9 APG in his first year with the Rockets. In his last outing, he racked up 27 points and 13 assists against the Clippers on Friday. The former No. 1 overall pick only played 32 games with Washington in 2018/19 and missed all of last season due to a ruptured Achilles.
The player he was traded for, Russell Westbrook, has been a triple-double machine for the Wizards in the second half of the season.
With several key rotation pieces sitting out, the Rockets will rely on unheralded players such as Armoni Brooks, Kenyon Martin Jr. and Anthony Lamb to finish out the season.
Cue the “this team would be great if Wall, Martin, and Wood were all healthy. Top 5 in the west easily. Way better than GS and the Lakers” (insert eye roll)
Rockets will will have a fun team next year if they can get lucky and draft Cade. Cade/Wood/Martin/Wall is a solid young team. they could create a five player stretch team
Plus Kevin Porter Jr. and Jae’Sean Tate, maybe Olynyk too.
Not Kevin Porter Jr. You can’t count on that guy at all. If he’s on the team next year that’s a bonus.
And you know what Kelly Olynyk is actually pretty good. He can hit the 3, he’s huge and he can play the five. Works for me.
Next 3 seasons
Rockets are not as good as Pelicans, 3 top 2 picks in Zion Ball Ingram
They are more comparable to Wolves, 3 top 2 picks on Towns Russell Edwards
4-36 in the last 40, oh madon
RiP Houston
Yup lets just tanksalot. Not even going to hide it. Why not, a top 4 pick this yr is great. I mean really great.
I hope they lose the rest of their games, and then slide outside the top 6 in the lottery.
I was gonna say that. Would be so funny of they fall out of keeping their pick!
The worst-case scenario would have them swapping picks with Miami, who could easily end up in the lottery themselves the way their season is going.
After 2023 Houston is likely to give 3 first picks to OKC so that rebuild has to be Quickly efficient …
Yes don’t count on a early pick. Just look when Zion came out the the Pelicans were forced to trade AD. Along comes the NBA Draft Ferry and wow Zion winds up on that team. Kind of like Ewing and the Knicks of 86
Tank tank tank tank tank tank tank
But imagine it with Dennis and Mac and Charlie jumping around with beers.
Schmitty episode
More shots to go around. Olynyk getting traded probably made him 20M.
He just turned 30, no one is giving him $20M/year. He might get a slight raise to $13M or $14M a year if he’s lucky.
I know ppl enjoy crapping on Houston but it’s really too bad. This was a team that sort of defied the odds last year and made some noise in the playoffs. Obviously impossible to separate the Harden stuff, but when they were clicking it was fun to watch (I thought so anyway).
Hopefully they take advantage of what should be good draft position. Wishing them luck. Don’t care what team it is just want to watch good basketball.
Clearly they’re just resting him for the Finals next year
Crazy that the worst team in the league only has a 50/50 shot of a top 4 pick
Not crazy at all, less incentive to tank
Wall actually played decent this year considering his missed two full seasons and is now in his 30’s.
His contract is still an albatross but at least he can still be a decent starter for a majority of the season.
The comparison to RWB is fair. But I would bet that it’s only a matter of time until Russ tweaks something, plays thru it, and starts shooting 6 for 25 nightly again.
He was horrendous earlier this year.
Makes sense to shut him down, probably could have done it a couple weeks ago. Couldn’t have imagined things would go this poorly for Houston…good thing is, can’t get much worse
Rox keep on getting fleeced. If I’m Christian Wood I would go to my agent and tell him I want out if this toxic situation…Wood would excel so much more with the raptors, spurs,celtics,pelicans.
At this point it looks like Houston managed to screw two Russell Westbrook trades in a row.
Wall is probably never going to be worth the contract he is on, but he is a good team mate and a solid player. However, you have to wonder about his durability at this point.
If the Till Man can just make money w/ these clowns what does it matter.