Wall may not play this season due to lack of trade interest

The former Washington Wizards guard is apparently not willing to agree to a contract buyout with the Houston Rockets, his current team.

The Washington Wizards are off to a 8-3 start with a roster that is as deep as it has been for at least the past decade. One of the main reasons why is because they traded John Wall for Russell Westbrook last year from the Houston Rockets. And from there, the Wizards traded Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers last summer for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell.

While things are going well here in D.C., they aren’t going as well for Wall, at least from a playing perspective.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (video is above), there is a good chance that Wall will not be able to play in the NBA this season due to his contract. Wall has over $91 million and two years remaining on his current deal. While he averaged 20.6 points and 6.9 assists per game in 40 appearances for Houston last year, no NBA teams want to give up a massive contract to the Rockets for Wall, who tore his Achilles tendon in 2019. Furthermore, the Rockets made the decision with Wall to not play him at all due to the fact that they are rebuilding. Wall has still attended Rockets games and practices in the meantime.

It’s clear that Wall can still contribute, but the only way for him to play this season is either agree to a buyout with Houston, which he will not agree to. And as Wojnarowski mentioned, some teams that may be interested in him, would want him to opt out of the second year of his contract. The only issue there is that Wall would make $47.3 million in 2022-23, and it’s difficult to see him (or anyone) turn that kind of money away, for now.

Would you like to see the Rockets and Wall eventually come to terms for a buyout so he can play this season? Or should they just play him sparingly? And I’ll ask this question, as unlikely as it may seem: Would you want to see Wall back in a Wizards uniform, even if he is not necessarily the starting point guard? Let us know in the comments below.