John Wall and the Wizards (Finally) Got It Done

170 million dollars later, Washington gets to keep its face of the franchise around for the foreseeable future. The Wizards are young, feisty, and on the rise. Are they ready to challenge the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference?

Kelly Iko
Kelly Iko
Jul 28, 2017 · 8 min read

As you’ve probably already seen or heard, after weeks of speculation, it seems like John Wall is gonna be here for a little while longer.

To Wizards fans and the general NBA public, these past three weeks had been pretty awkwardly tense in the D.C area, stemming from the time Washington initially offered John Wall a mega-extension. Having already seen fellow Eastern Conference stars like Jimmy Butler and Paul George head west for greener pastures, there was a real worry that John Wall would soon follow suit. But in order to understand better where this uncertainty arises from, we have to go back to the events surrounding and immediately following May 15.

Sometime after the Game 7 loss to Boston and before he officially left for the summer, John Wall and the team had their annual exit meeting. Visibly, he looked physically and mentally drained. The Wizards had just come off of another playoff exit, this one seemingly more taxing than the others. The second round series with the Celtics was best described as a seven-game bout of Super Smash Brothers™, a constant back-and-forth battle where no team won on the road.

Normally an uber-competitive and proud person, Wall didn’t seem like he had much fight in him at the moment. It was easy to see why though, his performance in the elimination game was anything but up to his standards. He actually finished with a 18–11–7 line, but was widely inefficient on the night, missing 7 of his 8 attempts from three and 15 of his 23 shots overall. Seeing as his running mates, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter Jr. had combined for nearly 60 points, in a sense, John felt as if he had let his team down. Markieff Morris is a fine NBA player, don’t get me wrong, but he should not be finishing with the same number of points as John Wall in a Game 7, nor is he expected to. No need for advanced analytics to gauge expected offensive output, a simple eye test would suffice here.

The vibe that was coming from the meeting was that any further improvement of the Wizards would have to come from within. Luring top-level free agents to the nation’s capital has always been a tall task. Washington is a pleasant place to live, but doesn’t really have a fair fight against a Miami, Houston, or Los Angeles in terms of attractiveness. John Wall had already gotten his hopes up previously when hometown hero Kevin Durant became a free agent the summer before, and the Wizards couldn’t even land a meeting. This time around, he wasn’t interested in playing lead recruiter. “They understand and see what we do as a team over here: how we play together, how we move the ball”, he said.” “I think guys will just come if they want to come”.

Signing a star on the open market is one thing. But trading for one? Now that was something Wall could endorse. When the reports surfaced days later of Paul George’s intent to leave the Pacers in 2018, the Lakers and Cavs were the first two teams heavily linked to landing the All-Star forward. The Fort Knox of assets that is the Boston Celtics were mentioned, but their priority was always Gordon Hayward. So John saw an opportunity. He put on his recruiter cap, picked up the phone, and started having conversations with his good friend PG-13. Several of them. The Wizards front office and the Indiana had also engaged in trade discussions. “I am talking to some guys — Paul. I know his ultimate goal of where he wants to be. I’m trying to see if we can make something happen,”, Wall said speaking to ESPN’s The Undefeated.

At the time, Indiana had a very steep asking price for any hope of landing George. A deal would require the services of Otto Porter Jr — a young and exciting 3-and-D forward, among other assets, say a Kelly Oubre and picks. Would Ernie Grunfeld and Washington be okay with flipping all of that, just for a rental? Paul George could easily bolt the next year, and Washington would be left with the short end of the stick. And these were just conversations after all, how certain were the Wizards that Kevin Pritchard would send a player of that caliber to an Eastern Conference rival?

As the story goes, Indiana elected not to deal with any Eastern Conference team at all, and sent Paul George to the Thunder. But for Victor Oladipo and Sabonis? Leslie Alexander would throw up at that return on investment. So, Washington turned their attention to John Wall and extending his current deal.


His place on the All-NBA third team, tied in with his seven years already served in the league, meant Wall was eligible for the Designated Veteran Player Exception. This caveat in the new collective bargaining agreement allows teams to retain superstars retain them at rates not seen before, as we saw with Steph Curry and James Harden being locked up by the Warriors and Rockets respectively. Wall would be looking at a 4-year extension which would amount to $170 million, going from making just under $17 million this year to 46 MILLION DOLLARS in 2022!

But he didn’t immediately jump on it. He waited — and that scared the living hell out of Washington. Speaking to the Post, he remarked “I’ve just got to make sure things are going in the right direction, and make sure we are building the team in the way we want to be, and don’t get locked up in a situation where you might not feel comfortable.” A league source I spoke to said “John was seriously considering saying screw it and aborting the whole mission”. He understood the importance of leverage in any negotiation, and he held all the cards here.

Let it be reminded here that LeBron and Wall share the same agent, who echoes the sentiments of keeping short-term contracts and maintaining flexibility. There needed to be some sign of an upgrade or at least, keeping the roster intact, to convince him this was the place to be. John Wall is a winner, from D-One Sports and Word of God Academy to Kentucky to the NBA, and wants to win on the biggest stage — in June.

After missing out on Paul George, the retaining of Otto Porter Jr. was key. The Nets, known as the restricted free agent Robin Hood, had already thrown $106 million his way. Brooklyn had developed a reputation for this, offering free agents big money deals in an effort to pry them away, making their original teams cough up the cash to keep them. And here was no different, Ernie Grunfeld would have to bite the bullet and keep him at all costs, or else risk Wall walking.

"I think we've proven that we have as much resources and as much tools as anybody in the league, and we're in the [league luxury] tax," Wizards owner Ted Leonsis told The Washington Post. "We'll spend whatever we need to get better, but we're going to get better by keeping our core together and then adding to it." The Wizards matched, and two weeks later, John Wall put pen to paper, keeping him in D.C for the next six years.

In an UNINTERRUPTED video, John Wall spoke to the fans, reassuring them this was what he wanted to do. “Y’all know where I wanted to be at. I’m happy I’m coming back another four years to be a Washington Wizard. Y’all know what I’m going for. Definitely gonna bring y’all the championship, that’s my ultimate goal, and I won’t stop till I get it.” They now have their face of the franchise committed and their playoff core intact.


In a conference where its stars are on the move and things are constantly changing, the Wizards stability is something to be lauded, with Wall/Beal/Otto signed through at least 2020. Their luxury tax bill might be upwards of $10 million, but in this league, you have to “spend to contend”. With the recent Kyrie/Bron/Cavs drama, if one or two of those guys bolt, the Celtics will be the only true threat to Finals appearance, and they just went toe-to-toe with them. Toronto is good, but to me Washington is slightly better. And Milwaukee is about two years away, with Philly about three from truly contending.

That isn’t to say Washington can sit back and relax. There’s still a lot of work to do with this roster. The starting lineup had a +8.1 net rating, fourth-best among starting fives with at least 300 minutes played. That’s really good. But their bench was god-awful last year, and got exposed in the second round. Getting rid of the Mahinmi contract would be the next logical step for Grunfeld — why a backup center is getting $16 million is beyond me.

But this is a start — a damn good one. John Wall is a transcendent talent, and a hard worker. He makes the game easier for those around him, and elevates their level of play at the same time. Bradley Beal and Porter Jr., the two biggest recipients of his presence shoot 41 and 45 percent respectively from deep off his passes. In the history of the entire league, you know how many guys that have had a season averaging 23.1/10.7/4.3 with a 23.2 PER?

Four.

You do whatever you can to keep that around, I don’t care how much it costs. And he’s 26. Realistically, he hasn’t even hit his prime yet — that’s damn scary. Put frankly, he’s a frickin’ beast.

I mean look at this here. Yeaaa, not sure what Budenholzer was thinking putting Taureen Prince in single coverage. Leave a defender out on Wall Island by his lonesome and he is TOAST.

One reason for Otto Porter’s success this season is John Wall’s ability to draw extra defenders, so surrounding him with shooters is the way to move forward, a la James Harden with the Rockets. Wall has the innate ability to pick out a pass from any point on the floor, and catch-and-shoot Porter Jr. turned this into 100 million.*cues All Eyez On Me by Tupac*

And as the face of your franchise, you want your leader not being afraid to step up in the big moments. This is why they pay the big bank. Over the years, Wall raised his shooting, going from an eyesore seven percent from three to being a capable threat from deep now. He is determined to improve.

The crazy thing is, he knows even upon entering his eighth season in the league, he’s somehow still underrated. Still left out of the infamous barbershop talk of the best guards around, and it seems like that might never change with the old heads. But this was just year one under head coach Scott Brooks, there’s only room for improvement, and John Wall is here to stay.

DC Rising.


Statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com

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