It is safe to say that John Wall doesn’t have too many happy memories of his time with the Houston Rockets. Wall was traded to the Rockets in 2020 and the franchise soon headed toward a rebuild. After playing 40 games in his first season, Wall and the team came to an agreement he would sit out for the whole 2021-22 campaign, and the sides agreed on a buyout this past offseason.
We hadn’t heard much from Wall about his time there until recently when he went off on the Rockets during an appearance on the Run Your Race podcast. He spoke about them tanking as soon as he got there and took a shot at former teammate Justin Patton by saying that the Rockets were starting someone like him. Patton hilariously responded to those comments by saying he thought they were cool!
https://twitter.com/JustinPatton17/status/1615472841410895873
“I thought we were cool @JohnWall”
Wall probably wasn’t intending to disrespect Patton, in particular, but that was the name that came to his mind at that moment. Patton only ever started 6 games in his NBA career, and all of them were with the Rockets. 13 of his 22 appearances also came with the franchise and he hasn’t played in the league since leaving them in 2021.
John Wall Says The Rockets Front Office Didn’t Want Him Around The Team
Wall had some ill feelings toward the Wizards for trading him away for Russell Westbrook but most of his anger was directed at the Rockets. He also revealed during this appearance that the front office didn’t want him around the team.
(starts at 1:30:36 mark):
“This is coach (Stephen Silas) talking to me like, ‘How would you feel coming off the bench?’ I said, ‘For who? No offense, but who? I was your best player last year.’”
Silas responded, “‘This is what the GM wants. He wants you to play 10-15 minutes a game, sometimes don’t play.’ I said, ‘I’m not doing that. Either you’re going to guarantee me some minutes, or I’m not. Let a m*********** earn his spot.’”
“Coach said, ‘You don’t deserve that, you should be a starter. This is what they want to do.’”
“Then it got to a point it was like don’t come around. They didn’t want me around like I had to work out at 7:00 AM like I was a rookie. Like, I had to work out before they got there so like when they would come into practice I’d be at home by 10:30 chilling all day.”
It is really unfortunate that things got to this point but it wouldn’t be surprising if a lot of big-money veterans on young teams were treated this way. Teams don’t want them around the young players unless it is purely in a mentorship role and if you’re not willing to accept that, then you’ll be kicked to the curb.
While Wall happily joined the Los Angeles Clippers to play with Paul George, his time with the team might be coming to an end. They have discussed Wall in potential deals for a big man as they look to improve the balance of their roster in their quest for a championship.
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