Houston Rockets guard and former All-Star John Wall appear to be the latest name to enter the trade rumor mill. Recently, it was reported from multiple sources that the Houston Rockets and Wall were working together to get Wall traded away from Houston.
Wall arrived in Houston last season, as part of a package that took Russell Westbrook to Washington. In Houston, Wall was expected to form a new backcourt partnership with James Harden.
But when Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, things took a turn for the worse. The Rockets quickly began losing and became one of the worst teams in the NBA. As for Wall, his struggles with injuries continued.
Wall was an All-Star caliber player in Washington until a major injury kept him sidelined for almost 2 seasons. When he returned this year, he showed that he could be an offensive threat, but was still dealing with the repercussions of his injury.
So the Rockets will probably look to trade him in order to get some assets they can use for team building in the near future. The trade deadline is still months away, giving the Rockets plenty of time. But time isn’t the issue when it comes to a potential trade.
NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski discussed a potential trade involving John Wall. Given the number of years and salary Wall has left on his big contract, the Rockets will have a hard time trading him away. So Woj expects Wall to stay put at the moment.
“I think trading John Wall, with two years left and over $90 million is almost impossible unless the Rockets, all of a sudden decide that they’re willing to attach a number of first round picks. And I don’t see that scenario. I think he’s going to be in Houston a while.”
While Wall may no longer be an All-Star-level player, he can be a key contributor on the offensive and defensive end of the court.
But if he stays with the Rockets, he will not be playing on a team that is vying for a playoff spot, despite the Rockets drafting top prospect Jalen Green in the draft, whom they plan to build their team around going forward.
