The Rockets reportedly intend to hold John Wall out of games until they can find a new home for him, which suggests the team is hopeful that there’s a deal to be made in the not-so-distant future. However, a number of NBA reporters aren’t so sure that the Wall situation will be resolved anytime soon.
Appearing on ESPN (video link; hat tip to Clutch Points), Adrian Wojnarowski said he believes trading Wall will be “almost impossible” unless Houston is willing to attach multiple first-round picks, which the team has resisted thus far. Wojnarowski adds that he thinks Wall will be in Houston for “a while” unless the point guard becomes receptive to giving up a significant amount of salary in a buyout.
On the latest episode of his Lowe Post podcast, ESPN’s Zach Lowe also expressed skepticism that there’s a deal out there for Wall and his oversized contract (two years, $91.7MM). Lowe told fellow ESPN reporter Tim MacMahon that he expects we’ll be waiting a long time for a resolution, with an eventual buyout representing the most likely outcome.
“I think it’s, ‘Hurry up and wait until next summer,'” MacMahon responded, per RealGM. “I think that’s what ends up happening.”
These reports are hardly surprising. Wall’s $44.3MM cap hit for the 2021/22 season is difficult to match for most teams, especially since newly-signed contracts can’t be moved right away in trades. And the clubs that are in position to package two or three players to match Wall’s salary may not want to give up those players for a former All-Star who has been slowed by injuries in recent years and didn’t look quite like his old self in 2020/21.
If the situation does drag out for months, it will be interesting to see whether the Rockets reconsider their stance of having Wall sit out games for the entire 2021/22 season. While that may be the safe approach to keep him healthy, the 31-year-old could perhaps boost his trade value a little if he returns to the court and proves he can still be productive.
But he has more value than Ben. Why wouldn’t anyone want to pick him up? “Sarcasm”
Rockets are on rebuilding. It does not make any sense for Rockets to attach first round picks. Period.
It does not make sense for Rockets to absorb any salary next season either.
However, it makes perfect sense for Wall to play for title contenders like Lakers, Nets, Bucks ……
Certainly there is only one result: no trade.
Sillibot!!
I am overrated Silly. Whatever.
Sillivan rules.
this team doesn’t have many glaring holes and has some guys who could really make a step forward in production (tate, KMJ, KPJ, Sengun)
If Jalen green drops 30 bombs out the gate , I can’t see why this team can’t push for the 10 seed in today’s watered down competition
Literally no one thought it was gonna be a quick trade. Including wall and the rockets.
Wouldn’t be surprised at all to see this guy back in DC if not this season then next. The fan base loves him, he seems to have a strong connection to the DMV area & he’s definitely still good enough to help them. They got a couple of LA guys at pg now, both talented but neither of whom has shown the ability to do what Wall has done as far as leading a team to a playoff series win. If either Dinwiddie or Holiday falters there’s gonna be voices calling for Wall to return
Wall led his team to the 2nd overall pick this past season, so widow and holiday are better players from this day into the future, wall maybe can be a backup scoring guard somewhere on the minimum, Houston may as well just play him because absolutely no one in the NBA is taking his contract without a James harden package of picks coming with it, and Houston shouldn’t trade those picks, it just is what it is rockets got him for 2 years and thats that
It definitely wasn’t Wall’s (or Wood’s) fault that they were the worst team in the league. The team was tanking from the moment they traded away Harden. This is obvious. They played young guys all season long & sat Wall with over a month left in the season in an attempt to get the highest pick possible. Wall came back pretty strong considering how much time he missed with injury the previous 2 seasons. Holiday was outplayed by TJ McConnell the past couple yrs so it’s definitely a stretch to say he’s better than John Wall unless you completely forgot who John Wall is
@part
to use win/ loss to determine what Wall’s worth is, is absurd. to say he would be a back up scoring guard is absurd to to say the least. Overpaid vs sucks are two different dynamics.
That would certainly be ideal for him if the Wizards are willing to take him back. It’s unfortunate with these situations how such large salaries make it so difficult to work out a trade, no matter how willing the participants are.
We don’t really know how mutual this decision was, but it’s obvious the Rockets are the ones who want to move forward without him and develop chemistry between Green, Porter, and the other young core players.
Lol I think it’s just as obvious if not much moreso that Wall would rather be on a team that is actually trying to win a title this season while also keeping all of his $. That’s what a win/win situation looks like lol not sure how familiar you are with John Wall but he’s not the type to say this was a mutual decision if he didn’t agree with the decision. It’s large corporations that are into spinning things in the media moreso than a guy like John Wall. As far as this being an unfortunate situation bc of his salary lol I mean it’s definitely not unfortunate for Wall. He always has the option of giving a few mil back if he wants out bad enough. But we’ve seen multiple examples of guys with huge contracts that casual fans screamed and screamed were unmovable eventually getting moved. In fact it literally just happened with Wall himself just 1 yr ago lol. Happened with the Rockets multiple times over the past couple seasons. I swear casual basketball fans have the shortest memories ever lol. Or maybe it’s just that their hatred for these players just clouds their memories.
You’re the only one hearing voices LOL. Get off the lsd.
I do not think Wall will go anywhere soon. But is leaving him out good. I know they do not want him hurt but it did not work here and I hope he can latch on somewhere. Whether will be a buyout as do not know how those work when Wall is due 91 million plus the next two seasons. I wonder as well what plans are for Eric Gordon.
I get that HOU wants to play their younger guys but why not give wall 15-20 min a game and if he looks good maybe somebody makes a move – could be there’s an injury.
I see virtually no way anyone makes this trade anytime soon especially if he’s riding pine. Walls made a good amount of money so wouldn’t be surprised to see him give up a significant sum in a buy out if there’s no movement come winter. Not sure he has a lot of contributor years left
At some point if Wall is technically healthy and wants to play the union will step in the second him riding pine isnt mutual. Dude may get sick of sitting around if nobody is interested in a deal by april. He also probably wont want to take more than 8-10M off in a buyout.
That’s not how the union/NBA/cba works… He signed a contract… Houston can send him home if they wanted tool… How much playing time or lack thereof he gets is none of the union’s business and they couldn’t do a thing about it anyway.
The league comes into it when a star gets rested for a national game…. I am sure if a 44M player who is by far one of the 8 best on maybe the worst team in the NBA next season never plays but wants to the league and union could step in and say play him or waive him. Either way Wall would have to want to for it to become a thing.
So, the “situation” won’t be resolved any time soon? The real issue is why was the “situation” created by the Rockets in the first place. It’s the most bizarre September announcement I can remember. On the facts as they’ve laid them out, this was a situation the team might have had to deal with midyear. Obviously, there’s more here than they’ve said. People should stop trying to normalize this as some kind of rational basketball decision.
I try to explain It: the “mutual situation” Simply means Rockets said to Wall “you are out” this Is a buyout but only(?) for 50M. If you don’t accept you are out, unless you find a Crazy organization Who wants to trade for you. We haven’t found. Ah, no 1sts.
Not the issue (everyone knows what you just stated). So, again, the Rockets reason for making this public during the offseason (vs doing what teams have done for decades in similar situations) was what exactly?
Agreed. Sitting a guy who a major injury history to prove his health to potential suitors is asinine even by Houston standards.
He isn’t untradeble it’s just to find a team that can wants him and can create a matching trade that isn’t garbage is another thing.
Most contracts a team could build around to flip for Wall have positive value, since most meh players make minimal money, so in any deal its Walls negative value to the tune of like all but 10M of his deal compounded by the positive value of another players deal. Only negative value contract even close is Love.
Agree with you. Wall can still play. Just hard to find a team that wants Wall with his $91 million dollar two year contract and will give back something of value.
If they aren’t willing to attach picks or take back bad contracts then there is literally zero percent chance of a trade.
If Wall really wants to move on to another team, then the easiest thing would be to turn down the player option on the final year of his contract. But I suppose that can’t officially happen until next year, although maybe it can be part of a trade agreement since no one wants to pay him $47M for the 2022-23 season. So if Houston is unwilling to give up additional assets, the only logical solution seems to be a buyout.
Of course that decision lies with how willing Fertitta is to pay out that much $$$$$.
There is zero chance he will decline his option after sitting out this season and lose 45M when he takes a vet min deal that is all that will be out there. Collison was looking at like 4/45M when he hung it up now coming back he is looking at camp invites.
Wall is stuck in Houston at those ridiculous numbers and his game doesn’t approach paying him. Buyout is the only option.
Funny how you and so many others said the exact same thing last yr except you switched out DC for Houston. Keep wishing tho, actually you should probably wish a lil harder this time lol
There’s no Westbrook out there my friend to fleece.
Kevin love
And why cavs should trade 61M love for 94M Wall?
John Wall Situation May Not Be Resolved Anytime Soon
Ben Simmons is going nowhere either, so why not trade Wall for Simmons
It should be that simple
Beyond the obvious player value disparity, the salaries aren’t close. The Sixers would need to add another 10ish million in outgoing salary and the rockets would need to add heaps of value…not so simple
Yeah something like Wall and 6 future firsts for Simmons. Even with his value down and a toxic situation he is worth so so so much more than Wall with like 40 games in 4 years and 44M in salary.
Because wall is a shell of the player he once was and Simmons is about to boycott training camp, get fined ,report and hopefully show he’s improved the one weakness in his game. Fear of failure.
Because Klutch won’t let that happen
I think you misspelled Kevin Love
Can players/teams restructure contracts like the NFL. If not restructure, give an extension ?
Say the clippers traded for him (Bledsloe, Kennard and Zubac). Could they then if he agrees to it rework his deal. Obviously he’s guaranteed 91.7mil over this and next year but what if they agreed to a 120mil over 4 years.
Thus the clippers save in cap space, and luxury tax and also upgrade at point guard. Wall himself basically agrees to a 2 year 28.3 mil extension. He does this cause after his deal expires he would be hard pressed to find a better deal, but he also does it to be apart of a team with title aspirations and a chance of winning.
Would be a major win for the clippers and actually save them money this year and next year. Plus the Rockets get rid of the huge deal, plus Wall gets to be apart of a good team that actually wants him and be in the league longer.
Win win win
Next summer Wall will be in same situation as CPaul was this summer. He will have option on a huge # somewhere near 50M. It he balls out the Clips can offer him a long term deal worth like 25-30M/yr that would help both sides. I think Clips are #1 place he’ll probably end up but I would love to see him back in DC or Charlotte myself. He’s gonna end up getting paid big either way but if he balls out similar to like Paul did he could get definitely get another long term check bc of how much leverage his player option gives him
The fact you’re comparing John Wall and Chris Paul shows how minuscule your basketball IQ truly is.
Paul was an All NBA second teamer and led PHX to the Finals. Wall is washed up and can’t stay healthy.
He’ll get paid. The MLE.
HOU can waive him and after he goes unclaimed they can stretch the money owed for next season to get him off the cap hit and pay him the remainder of the money spread over 4 years. They already missed the deadline for this season.
Russ and wall are equals save for wall can’t rebound like russ but other then that they are equals at everything else !Even share similarly bad contracts that where traded for each other with wizards kicking in a phantom first rd pick thAt will turn into two seconds.
Had rockets been more proactive they might have gotten most of those lakers players ! Alas to late
They are not equals. No.
I don’t understand how a team can say they are not playing a player because they want to dump him and the NBA does nothing but a team that rests a tired player on the wrong day gets fined!
Wall showed he could still play and the rockets looked pretty good until they started tanking and had injuries. The money is just too much though. If he was paid 20-25 a year you could see a team wanting him but 50 is crazy
Seems Wall has been at odds since the day he went after Harden. Funny how Harden has that effect on other players. Rockets are fools and should stop listening to an owner. Who knows nothing about Balling. Morey tried to please him and Bet on Harden and lost. All they are doing is killing Wall’s value. He should be starting and mentoring. Showing he is still valuable. You put up 20 n 10 and run team. There is a team who will look at you. Then by trade deadline or sooner. Would take a chance o you. Cause then it’s not that much money. And next yr could be bought out. Or what if he Balls out. The Celtics or Sixers could go after him. Both could use a Real PG. I Don agree with sitting him at all. Sounds like owner stepping in to me.
Wall at 90% is a solid starting PG. Better than Kemba, if he is serious. You attach Wood to the trade Celtics would be a fit.
Wood n Wall to >>>> Celtics
For Horford, Smart, Langford .
Wood fits in Celtics PE.
Rockets get good attitude guys to help the rebuild. Smart can help Green and start at PG. Horford can start and help young bigs. Langford is a rebuild project too. Could pay off.
Rockets move two malcontents and keep their picks.
Wait, what? A guy making over $90 million for the next two years who has an injury history and is on the downside of his career will be difficult to trade??
Sooo…rockets wont playing wall but still paying him? Sound stupid to me… Let him play and get top 4……pick.
I’d get not playing Wall if the Rockets had a viable guy to take over true PG duties, but since they don’t I don’t get it. Even if Wall is a shell of his former self, he can still playmake and make the players around him a bit better. That’s what you want for a young team.
I’d say they’re trying to tank
But they played Wall all last year and were pretty much the worst team in the league
Even still, to your point, they could play him 20 mpg and still give the young guys plenty of run
Total nonsense from HOU, if the guy is healthy you play him & shut up, who they think they are to not let him play?
If you don’t wanna play him, which is odd, as he is the best PG in the team, unless Green does great there, which he has never played the point, then you must trade him!
If not just buy the man out, pay him to the last dime, which he has more than earned the contract that he is enjoying, so he can go to a better team to be a key contributor, as simple as, these are the only 3 options I can see, easy peasy!
Escape from Houston Part III? IV? Look when an NBA player needs work you send him to the G League, well why not the same with a team? Rockets to the G League, bring up the Ignite and we are done with this Rocket dysfunctionaity.