John Wall: The Face Of Washington D.C. Sports, Stability For The Future
Teams build the foundation first, whereas the Wizards’ foundation starts with Wall.
In just about every sports city, there’s one athlete that rises above the rest. The type of athlete that is the poster child for that individual city when it gets brought up. He or she shows the city unconditional love like it’s the city they were born and raised in.
I’m not talking fairytale homecoming stories like the city of Cleveland has with LeBron James. I’m talking about players like Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City or Damian Lillard in Portland. Players that have made these cities their homes and will forever have a connection for the way they represent for their city.
So, how does a player go about achieving such an honor? Without diving too deep into the criteria, some deciding factors could involve longevity, being a transcendent talent in his respective league, likable personality, loyalty and a defining moment that makes the city turn its head with excitement.
In the Nation’s Capital, the sports scene has been treated with some great talent over the years. The likes of Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, Kirk Cousins, and Alexander Ovechkin have given fans a reason to be excited while fitting the mold for being the face of the city.
However, the player not named may very well be the most deserving, and that is Washington Wizards point guard John Wall. Instead of going over the criteria again, I’ll defer to the final minute of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals as an example.
The score was 87–85 Celtics, and the ball was in Isaiah Thomas’ hands with just under a minute remaining. The player tasked with containing the red-hot Thomas was none other than Wall. With seconds remaining on the shot clock, Thomas opted to take a three, but it was read perfectly by Wall, who came up with the block. As fast as that play happened, Wall already had the ball in his hand, raced downcourt, drew the foul and tied the game with two free throws.
Now, the Wizards were down 91–89 after an Al Horford jumper with 7.7 seconds remaining. Otto Porter was the inbound man, the referee started his five second count and nearly blew his whistle, before Wall ran from the corner to receive the ball at the 3-point line. Defended by Avery Bradley, Wall took two dribbles, pulled up for three in Bradley’s face, knocked it down with three seconds remaining and subsequently forced a Game 7 in Boston.
After the buzzer sounded, Wall was greeted by his teammates, but something came over him in that moment as he raced over to the scores table. Wall stood on the scorers’ table facing the hyped crowd in the Verizon Center, signaling to the crowd that this was his house, his team and his city. Keeping that same energy, Wall said in his post-game interview:
“I ain’t going home. Don’t come to my city wearing all black talking about it’s a funeral. We worked too hard for this.”
That final sequence of events encompasses the raw emotion Wall plays the game of basketball with and represents the city of Washington D.C. with. The best part is there are more examples like this from Wall. Like chatting court-side with Gucci Mane, Quavo and Julio Jones while he singlehandedly eliminated the Atlanta Hawks from the playoffs, putting on a dunking display at All-Star Weekend or even winning the NBA Community Assist Award by donating $400,000 to a D.C. homeless center for educational services for children.
I could go on and on, but the one thing Wall’s done to win fans over is his loyalty, which got put on display recently. Last Friday, Wall agreed to re-sign with the Wizards under the designated player veteran exception. Wall will make a whopping $207 million through 2023 with the Wizards, according to David Aldridge of Turner Sports and Shams Charania of The Vertical.
To put it simply, this was a long overdue and well-deserved payday for Wall. In 2013, Wall agreed to a five-year, $80 million contract extension. With the inflation of the market in the past couple of seasons, Wall’s contract was almost criminal in a sense. Even Wall saw the reality of it when he uttered this quote to CSN Washington:
“I’m getting the same (money) as Reggie Jackson.” With the exception of that, Wall kept quiet about his contract as he watched guys, including his back-court mate Bradley Beal, get huge contracts these past two seasons.
More importantly, Wall decided to let his play do all the talking this past season. In the regular season, Wall averaged career-highs in points (23.1 per game), assists (10.7 per game), steals (two per game), field goal percentage (45.1 percent) and effective field goal percentage (48.2 percent). If those stats aren’t good enough for you, Wall averaged 27.2 points, 10.3 assists and 1.7 steals, and shot 45.2 percent from the floor and 34.4 percent from three in the playoffs.
More, you say? Well, Wall ended the season with 50 double-doubles, and the closest Eastern Conference guard to that mark was Elfrid Payton, who had 18 double-doubles. To put the icing on the cake, Wall made his first All-NBA team honors by appearing on the third team and even got some votes in the MVP race this season.
While this is mainly about Wall, this is a huge move for the Washington Wizards’ organization. In the past, the Wizards would watch as their young, talented players slipped through their hands and spent the prime of their careers flourishing on other teams. But, this was different. The front office knew Washington goes when Wall goes, and locking him up was the key to potential long-term success. Subsequently, the front office may have convinced Wall to re-sign by retaining Otto Porter and going over the luxury tax for the first time in franchise history.
Signing a bunch of veterans to one-year contracts only to miss the playoffs appears to make Washington a not-so-desirable destination for free agents. However, the Wizards now have a core of Wall-Beal-Porter, who will all enter their primes together, and have proven the team is only a few pieces away from being a true contender in the East.
With a multitude of stars headed out West — watering down the East and the looming cloud of LeBron James potentially leaving the Cavs — the Wizards have every incentive to make some trades in the coming years to put them over the top. Along with some potential trades, the Wizards will finally be a top destination for free agents as well. One potential move that has Washington fans salivating comes from the Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps:
“But if Cousins wants to play with Wall — as several sources around the league believe that he does — then all he has to do is wait until next summer and present the Pelicans with a choice: Lose me for nothing or get a good player back in return. There’s no certainty such a deal will happen, but the important thing is that the Wizards have their foundation moving forward and can begin to build upon it.”
Without getting too ahead of myself, I will add that this is a direct factor of Wall signing his extension. For the past couple of seasons, the talk has been about should the Wizards max Beal? Should the Wizards max Porter? Will Wall sign long-term? Now that all these questions have been answered, the Wizards are in prime position to finally have some stability for more than a season or two. More importantly, none of this would be possible without their leader and starting superstar point guard John Wall.
So coming full circle, the face of D.C. sports may still be up for debate to the masses, but allow me to start the conversation for Wall’s candidacy. Before Wall, the Wizards were the laughingstock of the NBA. After having an exciting trio of Arenas-Butler-Jamison, one dumb incident ruined it all — the incident was labeled ‘Gun Gate,’ which involved Gilbert Arenas and now-convicted felon Javaris Crittenton. This sent the Wizards in a downward spiral, until they lucked out and selected John Wall with the №1 overall pick.
Unfortunately, Wall couldn’t do it all right away, because the team around him was as immature as they come. An anti-big three of Young-Blatche-McGee helped the Wizards become a Shaqtin’ A Fool dream team. Meanwhile, Wall continued to develop and even made those around him look better in the process. However, the lack of talent led to poor team records.
Then, the wins started to come in slowly but surely, and Wall was leading the charge the whole time. He was given the keys to the car at 20 years old and hasn’t looked back since. He’s faced adversity, injuries, three different coaching staffs, double knee surgeries, doubters, an obscene amount of teammates (many of which got huge paydays because of Wall) and has done so with a positive attitude for the past seven seasons.
Once the Wizards started to see some success, Wall started to get some recognition throughout the NBA. His unselfish play, quickness, athleticism and incredible court vision is like no other. But, the best part about Wall is he personifies the city of D.C. like no other athlete before him has.
That is what separates Wall from the pack — the transformation from being a good player to becoming elite is transpiring before our very own eyes. As a fan, writer and more importantly a resident of the D.C. metropolitan area, Wall is special. It’s been a long time coming, but Wall is the superstar Washington fans deserve, and now that reality stretches through 2023. In short, John is the only Wall people in D.C. choose to acknowledge these days.
The Wizards will be tasked with some tough decisions in the future for ways to help them take the next step. Lucky for them, they have the face of D.C. sports on their roster, and if anything, they’ll always have a fighter’s chance with Wall by their side.
