3 Teams That Should Avoid John Wall Trade Talks

Wall would be an upgrade over Simmons offensively, but would it be enough to raise Philly’s floor?

His injuries over the past few years have made him a shell of the athlete that made him an All-NBA caliber player.

And injuries caused him to miss some time last year as well.

Daryl Morey and the Sixers front office made it clear they want a player of Simmons’ caliber in return.

As bad as Simmons is offensively, he is still several tiers above Wall in terms of pure talent.

Without the draft capital attached as a sweetener, trading for Wall would be a bad trade for Philly.

They would be hard-capped in terms of salary and no more pieces to improve the team through trade.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma City is here because they have the cap space to absorb Wall’s contract without giving up too much.

Derrick Favors has the highest cap figure going into this season, and he is set to make just under $10 million.

Nobody else on the team will make more than $6 million.

The Thunder have the easiest path financially, but the on-court fit makes no sense.

OKC is in asset-acquisition mode.

They want to obtain draft picks and make sure their own picks land as high as possible.

Even though Wall is not the player he once was, he would still probably be worth a few wins to this Thunder squad.

And the Rockets allegedly do not want to send out draft picks as mentioned above.

Both of those statements go against what the Thunder currently want to do.

There is also the matter of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander playing the same position as Wall.

SGA is only 23 years old and just finished up a year that saw him average 23.7 points, 5.9 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game.

OKC just signed him to a maximum rookie extension and it is clear he is a future star.

Obtaining Wall would mean cutting into Shai’s playing time and playing opportunities to work with the ball in his hands.

To help Gilgeous-Alexander develop, he will need all the game reps he can get.

Between the Thunder’s current timeline and SGA’s development, OKC should stay far away from Wall.

1. New York Knicks

Last but not least is the New York Knicks.

A team that surprised everybody in locking up the No. 4 seed last year and hosting a playoff series.

New coach Tom Thibodeau helped make the Knicks the league’s stingiest defense in terms of points allowed.

And an All-Star caliber season from Julius Randle along with a second-year leap from RJ Barrett helped fuel an offense that did just enough.

However, it felt like the Knicks were playing better than they should have.

They clearly needed more offense and a true star to take them to the next level.

Wall is no longer a star but has the name-brand recognition New York might like to garner attention.

The Knicks would do well to stay away.

Evan Fournier was just signed for $73 million this offseason and Kemba Walker was brought in after being bought out by the Thunder.

While neither is a star (unless Kemba rediscovers his form with the Charlotte Hornets) they will both boost the offense when paired with Randle and Barrett.

New York now has Walker, Derrick Rose, and Barrett as lead ball-handlers.

Adding Wall into the mix would be somewhat redundant.

The Knicks have been desperate to add star power as of late; Wall is not that star to add.