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Reading: John Wall Boldly Claims The 2016-17 Wizards Would’ve Beaten LeBron James’ Cavaliers
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Home > NBA News & Analysis > John Wall Boldly Claims The 2016-17 Wizards Would’ve Beaten LeBron James’ Cavaliers

John Wall Boldly Claims The 2016-17 Wizards Would’ve Beaten LeBron James’ Cavaliers

John Wall makes a huge claim about his 2017 Washington Wizards and the LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers.

Orlando Silva
Jan 18, 2023
5 Min Read
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Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

John Wall has always boasted huge confidence, and his recent statements are the perfect examples of that. The Los Angeles Clippers point guard was once an elite guard that could stay his ground against anybody in the league. Unfortunately, injuries were ruthless with him, and now Wall has been wandering around the league, trying to recover his best form. 

While he’s reportedly mentioned in trade discussions, Wall has made some big claims about his career and how things went wrong for him. The point guard spoke about how the Washington Wizards ‘betrayed’ him before making the Russell Westbrook trade and then how the Houston Rockets focused only on losing, even shading one of his former teammates. 

But, not everything was bad for Wall, as he recalled his best days in Washington and how competitive that team could have been. The tandem of Wall and Bradley Beal was expected to do big things in D.C., but things never panned out for them.


John Wall Believes His 2017 Wizards Would Have Gotten Past LeBron James And The Cleveland Cavaliers 

Still, this doesn’t mean that they didn’t have high expectations. In fact, Wall believed they could have gone all the way to the Finals in 2017 before things fell apart for them. During his participation on the Run Your Race podcast, Wall claimed that his 2017 Wizards could have beaten the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers that season. 

"We was going to beat the s**t out of Bron…They did not want to see us."

John Wall explains why the Wizards would have beat the Cavs in the 2017 playoffs.

Run Your Race Podcast | @TidalLeague https://t.co/wiBOE0l7pn

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 18, 2023

“Me and Kyrie [Irving], we matching up,” he began. “I’m taking Brad over J.R. [Smith]. You got Bron over Trevor Ariza. I’m taking you know who. Kevin Love and Markieff Morris, I’m taking Kevin Love, but Markieff Morris can shoot threes and post up. I’m taking [Marcin] Gortat over Tristan Thompson, and our bench was deeper than theirs.”

Unfortunately, they couldn’t get past the Boston Celtics and were eliminated in seven games in the second round of those playoffs. The C’s couldn’t do much against the Cavs, however, losing the Eastern Conference Finals in five games. 

This isn’t the first time Wall makes this claim, as he believed ahead of the 2017-18 NBA season that the Cavs were scared of them and avoided getting the No. 1 seed in the East to not see the Wizards before the Conference Finals.

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“If you look at them last year … I think they didn’t want that number one seed for a reason, because we would have played them in the second round.”

“To be honest, I think so,” Wall said. “I think they wanted to see us in the Eastern Conference Finals and we fell one game short of that. I think we just give them the best matchup out of any team in the East.”

Wall and the Wizards never got past the second round of the playoffs, and many people criticized the front office for paying a lot to two guards that couldn’t get the job done. Wall’s injuries didn’t help them either, and he was finally traded to the Houston Rockets a couple of seasons ago. 

Now, he’s trying to make an impact on the Los Angeles Clippers, but things haven’t worked as expected for him. During his best days, he was one of the best players in his position, and it’s sad that we never got to see those Wizards clashing against the all-powerful Cavaliers of LeBron James.

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TAGGED:Cleveland Cavaliers ArchiveJohn WallLeBron JamesWashington Wizards Archive
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ByOrlando Silva
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Orlando Silva has been a part of Fadeaway World for over three years now, starting in March 2019. Trade rumors, hottest news, controversies, and basketball gossip have become his specialties. After several years of seeing the Spurs dominate the playoffs, they've become his favorite team as players for the franchise either rise to the occasion or fall completely from grace. When he's not talking about the NBA, Orlando can be seen watching other sports, making music, or enjoying television series.
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