While he has since moved on after reaching a buyout with the Rockets over the summer, John Wall admitted during a conversation with Sam Amick of The Athletic that he was “pissed as hell” at the way his last season in Houston played out.
According to Wall, at the end of his first year in Houston in 2020/21, he had positive exit meetings with head coach Stephen Silas and Rafael Stone, and left those meetings believing that he’d continue to play a significant role for the Rockets the following season. The veteran point guard found out a few months later that was no longer the plan.
“In August, I went back to (Houston to) check on my condo and I was going back to Miami, where I’ll (stay) in the summer,” Wall said. “So they were like, ‘Yo, the thing is, listen, we’ll bring you out for like 10 minutes a game, and sometimes you won’t play at all, or you can just not play at all the whole year and we’ll try to find a trade.’ And I was like, ‘I’m not trying to play 10 minutes a game or not play some games.’ I didn’t want to do that.”
Wall and the Rockets ultimately agreed to have him sit out until the team could find a trade, which didn’t happen. Following his offseason buyout from the Rockets, the 32-year-old landed in Los Angeles, where he’s off to a good start so far this season with the Clippers, averaging 16.0 PPG on 51.9% shooting in 23.0 MPG in his first two games.
Wall spoke to Amick about several topics, including his decision to sign with the Clippers. The conversation is worth checking out in full if you’re an Athletic subscriber, but here are a few of the highlights:
On the silver lining of the Achilles tear that sidelined him for the 2019/20 season:
“I think during the time when I had my Achilles injury, it was perfect timing for me to have that injury, because my mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer and my first son was born. So I got to spend time working through that whole process, taking her to chemo and stuff like that. I got to see my first son being raised every day. Most of the time when you have a kid, we’re midseason (with the team). We don’t get to see them grow every day. We miss the steps because we’ve got to travel. So I think all that (was a blessing).”
On getting the opportunity to join a contender like the Clippers:
“I knew I had so much left in the tank. That’s why it’s great to be with a great organization, a great group of guys, a great coaching staff, because a lot of teams said, ‘Well, we didn’t see you play and we don’t know if you’ve still got it.’ And I’m like, ‘Just give me a chance. I know what I’ve got. Just give me a chance.’ And they gave me a chance.
“Playing with a great team, you’re still trying to figure things out, build things out, and we’ve got a couple of guys on minute restrictions. But I feel like when we get all that down and pat, we’re gonna be something special.”
On how long the Clippers had been on his radar as a possible landing spot:
“Me and P (Paul George) were talking about it the whole time. We were trying to figure it out. I had two years left (on my contract with Houston), and we were trying to wait until I had one year left and try to keep fighting.”
If Wall contributes as a starter or 6th man to the Clips 1st nba title & puts up a couple more seasons with #s comparable to whatever he does this yr should he be a HOFer? Of the guards that aren’t in the hall, which would have a better case than Wall?…
Bill Walton is in the HOF as a player and he only played 468 out of a possible 902 games. He also dominated with that 13.3 points per game.
If Bill is in, John Wall should of been a lock 5 years ago.
Sounds more like you’re saying Walton shouldn’t be in. Remember that he’s arguably the greatest ncaa player ever & that also counts
Apples. Oranges.
Apples & oranges (much like Walton & Wall) are very much comparable to each other
Walton along with Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and Pistol Pete are the probably the greatest men’s NCAA players of all time. It’s the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame.
Please never forget Laettner. He’s def in the top3
Laettner was drafted 3rd in ‘92 and Jim Jackson was Natl. POY that year. Laetttner is probably an all-time great college player, but definitely not even top 5. Imo, Duncan was a much better college player than him.
Laettner is like Big Dog Robinson level college player.
Lol I def wasn’t expecting that comment to get deleted. jump shot must be somebody important lol. Let me watch my words here… Laettner was very obviously better than even great players like Big Dog & Duncan. Those guys failed to do in 7yrs what Laettner did every single yr he was at Duke. He made Duke the powerhouse of college basketball. He played almost all of the other greats of his era (Mourning/LJohnson/Webber/Shaq/etc) & was dominant pretty much every time. 21-2 in tournament gms. Best player on best team since the wooden era. He changed the game of college basketball like no one other than Kareem with him being the 1st great stretch 5. It’s been a while so I understand ppl may have forgotten. He’s pretty clearly top3 & he’s arguably #2 behind only Kareem
Top 3? Not Laettner. I’d put him on top 20 though. Russell, Chamberlain, David Thompson, Bradley, Bird and Magic in no particular order would round out my top 10.
Top20 lol I truly dk why I even try with yall. Larry Bird, David Thompson, Wilt, Russell, Maravich were all time great players in college & in the pros. Those guys won zero titles. Laettner went to more Final 4s himself than all those guys combined lol. You guys wouldn’t even know what state Duke University is in if not for Laettner smh
Must’ve been pretty disrespectful.
Could probably get talked out of your game pretty easily in your day, if my comment bothered you that bad. (if you had a day)
Laettner WENT to a lot of Final Fours on some pretty good teams – it’s not like he single handedly dragged some mediocre teams there.
There’s a ton of players you could insert for Laettner and they WIN those Final Fours, not just get to them.
He is probably a Top 3 most Over-rated college player of all time… his pro career easily backs that up.
Other than that, he wasn’t bad.
I basically said u suck as a basketball fan and that it boggles my mind that u & so many others like u speak with so much confidence about things which u lack basic knowledge of. You continue to strengthen my argument. Lol @ the emphasis on went tho. What does that even mean lol? You are truly exposing yourself as someone who doesn’t know the 1st thing about Christian Laettner smh. Check what happened to Duke after Laettner left & then go back & see what they did when he was there
Kanye, is that you???
That was one of the most insecure social media posts ever.
But, I’ll give you what you want: You are the most knowledgeable guy (or girl) on this whole site.
Btw: If you truly thought I suck as a basketball fan, you most certainly wouldn’t dedicate so many paragraphs to me – especially ones that the editors delete.
Just breathe in/breathe out…
I feel this is your way of coming to realization/admitting that I was right about Laettner lol. But you definitely shouldn’t question how I see you as a basketball fan. I put in the paragraphs in an attempt to teach & apparently this week’s lesson is Laettner lol. Hopefully you learned something… and for u to tell me ik more about basketball than any of these other commenters obv isn’t what I want. I want there to be other people on here who know the game & dont hate the players & are capable of talking basketball on anything deeper than the surface level stuff that gets regurgitated over & over
You can start from here. Laettner just slicing & dicing the nations leader in blocks, Alonzo Mourning & the best defensive team in the Big East for 24pts 9rebs to lead his team to the Final4. He was 9-10 from the field, he was also a freshman… link to m.youtube.com
Phil ford????
Wat about Skywalker????
Rondo? Mark Price?
I do hope Wall has a lot left in the tank. Definitely in the Hall of most fun to watch.
I think Rondo gets in, he was in the conversation along with Deron Williams and CP3 as being the best PG in the game in his peak. He also won two titles.
As far as Price, it’s iffy. 74th all time in assists and a hair under 11,000 points isn’t quite enough without winning a title or MVP.
Hopefully Wall plays a couple more years because I don’t think his numbers are quite there.
I def wouldn’t say Rondo was pn DWill or CP3s level when they were st their peak. He should probably get in tho. Price was arguably the best pg in the game along with GP/Stockton after Isiahs reign ended in the early 90s. Injuries shortened his prime tho & he didn’t get quite enuf done (esp team wise) to get in. Wall had a much longer prime than Price & was just better than Rondo tho
Rondo? Pass the blunt.
Wall in the hall is laughable.
Wall’s 2021-22 season was just one more casualty of tanking. Of course, now that Silver has assured us that he’s going to pay attention to it this year, I’m sure things will change.
Silver is weak AF. Happy to make the easy player influenced decisions but never the tough ones
How is what the Rockets did with Wall. Not tanking for a pick. He was able to play. He should of played. This was blatant tanking. And Silver did nothing.
I like Wall. I hope he has success in LA. Clippers are a good team with everyone playing. West is very competitive to me. I still think the East is better and deeper. Its been a long time since I could say that.
You actually expect Silver to do something like that? He’s all talk until a player tweets about something