Ever since trading James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, the Houston Rockets have been down in the trenches. After an underwhelming last season, things haven’t changed much for the Rockets in the 2021-22 NBA season. Probably one of the biggest reasons for their terrible performances is probably not playing 5-time NBA All-Star John Wall.
Wall was brought to the team in hopes of providing support to Harden. Well, it has been anything but that. With Harden enjoying a good spell with the Nets, most thought that John Wall would get a chance to start and prove his worth to everyone.
Unfortunately, that isn’t what happened, and the franchise made it clear that they wanted to offer the former Washington Wizards star a bench role. Wall, on the other hand, wants to start, and rightfully so. He still has that much left in the tank for sure.
Due to the two sides being unable to reach common ground, the 31-year-old is yet to play even a single game this season. This has directly had an adverse effect on the Rockets as they have the worst record in the Western Conference.
Now the only solution to this situation is to trade him. Considering Wall has a bulky contract, it might be hard to find a suitable destination for him. Despite that, Dan Favale of Bleacher Report has proposed a potential trade between the Rockets and the Clippers. The trade features Wall being traded to the Clippers in exchange for Serge Ibaka, Luke Kennard, and Eric Bledsoe.
Via Bleacher Report:
“Wall does not wield the same level of explosion he did in his heyday, but he can still put pressure on set defenses and constitutes a demonstrative outside shooting and playmaking upgrade over Eric Bledsoe. This isn’t enough of an incentive for the Clippers to fully embrace his pay grade. But the opportunity cost is reasonable enough for them to think about it—particularly with Kawhi Leonard possibly out for the season. Bledsoe is too often an offensive non-factor, and Serge Ibaka hasn’t looked right since returning from his back injury. Neither is especially likely to stick with L.A. beyond this season. Luke Kennard is the sticking point. After opening the year on relative fire, he has dipped below 34 percent shooting from deep over the past 12 games and is hitting barely 40 percent of his twos for the season.”
While the Clippers might think twice before accepting the offer, Favale wrote that the Rockets should accept the trade, with no questions asked.
“Houston shouldn’t need to think twice about this package. The balance of Kennard’s entire contract is less than Wall is making this season, and he’s still only 25. The more salient question is whether the Rockets would be willing to send out small-potato buffers—like Milwaukee’s 2023 first or its 2023 and 2024 seconds—to make the deal more palatable for L.A.”
If this trade goes down, it will be beneficial for both sides as more than half of the season is still left.
The Clippers will be able to push for a higher seed, with Leonard recovering well as revealed by Jerry West, and adding Wall to the roster might be the final piece of the puzzle for the team.
