Justin Termine Debates John Wall’s Legacy as Wizards Legend Retires From NBA

John Wall retired yesterday, officially ending his 11-year NBA career. Fans with recency bias will mostly know Wall for the injuries that derailed the second half of his career, but his basketball legacy extends well beyond that.

Wall was part of the first class that John Calipari signed when he became Kentucky’s coach, and with classmates DeMarcus Cousins and Eri c Bledsoe, he ushered in the one-and-done era. He was a consensus All-American and the SEC Player of the Year, and helped lead the Wildcats to the Elite Eight.

Wall was the No. 1 overall pick by the Washington Wizards and immediately became one of the most exciting players in the league. As NBA Today’s Justin Termine said yesterday, Wall’s athleticism is what made him stand out and that’s what his real legacy should be.

“I guess if you’re kinda saying how are you gonna remember John Wall … the first thing that’ll probably pop into my head is one of the fastest guys with the ball in his hands in NBA history,” Termine said.  “The prime didn’t last long, but at his athletic peak, I would say you throw him into the same category athletically at the point guard position as you would Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Ja Morant.”

Termine did point out that of that list, Westbrook is the only one whose career hasn ’t been derailed by injuries. Rose of course tore up his knee in the 2012 playoffs just one year after becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history and though he soldiered on and ended up playing 15 seasons, he never again had the same kind of explosiveness that he showed earlier in his career.

Morant has dealt with numerous injuries through his first six seasons, which has limited him to just 51 games per season. Like Wall, he’s one of the league’s best dunkers, though unlike Wall, he’s never participated in the Dunk Contest (Wall won it in 2014).

Wall made five straight All-Star teams and even finished seventh in the MVP race in 2017. Though the Wizards were one of the worst teams in the league when he got there, he and running mate Bradley Beal, eventually led them to five consecutive seasons of 41 wins or more and three playoff series wins.< /p>

Wall endured many injuries during his time in Washington, including cartilage damage in his left knee, a broken wrist and a ruptured Achilles. In 2020 the Wizards traded him to the Rockets and then immediately fell right back on hard times. They haven’t finished .500 or better since.

John Wall believes the Wizards should retire his jersey

Wall had a special connection to our nation’s capital and to Wizards fans, and he told The Washington Post that he believes his number should hang in the rafters. “I definitely believe it belongs there,” he said. “I think if it doesn’t go in the rafters, I don’t think the fans would really appreciate it. I think they’d be upset.”

Wall was one of the few bright spots the Wizards have had in the past two decades, so even though his career in Washington was cut short, he has a compelling case. There hasn’t been much for Wizards fans to celebrate in a while. Retiring a beloved player’s jersey would change that.

Though he won’t be playing any more, Wall will still be immersed in the NBA as part of Amazon’s new NBA studio show, which begins this fall.