Over the past four seasons, John Wall has missed over 200 regular-season games. Now, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, he’s about to miss a couple dozen more.
Following his trade to the Rockets in 2020, Wall finally returned to action, averaging 20.6 points in 40 games.
But he has yet to play this season and apparently has no plans to return at all. The weirdest thing of all is that he’s perfectly healthy.
Houston Rockets point guard John Wall has yet to take the floor this season, and that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported during Wednesday’s NBA Countdown that Wall might not play at all this season.
“There are no plans for John Wall to play for the Rockets, and it’s becoming increasingly likely that John Wall may not play anywhere in the NBA this season because the cost of his contract right now is just too prohibitive,” Wojnarowski said.
After signing a four-year contract extension worth $170 million with the Washington Wizards in 2017, Wall is owed $91.7 million over the next two seasons. He has a player option worth $47.4 million for the 2022-23 season, and those numbers have made teams hesitant to trade for the 31-year-old veteran.
“Any team that would potentially trade for him would want him to decline that option,” Wojnarowski said. “Well, he’s not doing that, he’s not giving that money back.”
Wojnarowski noted that the other route towards free agency for Wall would be a contract buyout, but he has shown no interest in that and neither have the Rockets.
Wall’s absence is mostly attributed to the state of the rebuilding Rockets, who have prioritized building up their young talent to the point where they are unwilling to let Wall take up their minutes.
And so, he remains on the sidelines, waiting for the moment he’s allowed to shine.
Unfortunately, it seems like he’ll be waiting a long time.
The 5x All-Star, who turned 31 in September, is still finding his way back to All-Star form after rupturing his Achilles tendon in 2019.
