So, can we finally put an end to all the “the disgruntled John Wall has his eyes set on leaving the Washington Wizards when his contract expires” talk?
On a day when we learned that Kyrie Irving, the media-anointed “best point guard in the East” — even though he’s actually nothing more than a volume scorer with a breathtaking ability to finish around the basket, and an even more breathtaking lack of interest in passing the ball or playing defense — publicly declared that he’d like to be traded, the actual best point guard in the East re-upped his current deal, to remain with his current team for the better part of the next decade.
Yes, fellow D.C. sports fans, it’s true: Wall has officially agreed to a four-year, $170 million contract, better known as the super maximum contract extension.
The deal actually begins after Wall’s current deal expires, which would be after the 2018–2019 season. So basically, Wall is under contract through the 2021–2022 season at least (the fourth year of his deal is a player option).
Wall became eligible for the “supermax” after averaging career-highs in points per game (23.1), assists per game (10.7), and field goal percentage (45.1%) last year, culminating in his selection All-NBA Third Team selection (though, in my totally biased opinion, he should’ve been named All-NBA Second Team, ahead of Isaiah Thomas).
Selected with the #1 overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft, effectively being made the cornerstone of the Wizards rebuild project, Wall — along with fellow max-contract teammates Bradley Beal and Otto Porter Jr. — led the Wizards to their highest regular-season win total in 38 years.
So, at least for the time being, can we please hand a nice tall glass of “STFU Juice” to all the media talking heads who wanted to stir the pot of “John Wall and Bradley Beal don’t like each other!” or “John Wall wants to join LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers next year!” or “John Wall wants to start a new superteam with Demarcus Cousins in Atlanta!” or “John Wall’s publicly wooing of Paul George shows how much he hates Otto Porter Jr.!” stories?
In an era of D.C. sports when the local football team is doing everything it can to publicly burn the bridge with it’s Pro Bowl quarterback, and the baseball team has a generational phenom who might have his eyes set on joining the “Evil Empire” about 200 miles up I-95, it’s nice to see a home-grown superstar officially plant his roots here in the nation’s capital, and do everything he can to fulfill the promise we had for him.
John Wall is here to stay.
