Over the last few seasons, the current Los Angeles Clippers point guard has gone through a lot of issues both on and off the court. Despite having a huge contract, even by NBA standards, Wall missed a lot of games due to injuries.
As a result, he has seemingly lost the swag that made him one of the better players in his position in the league. When we talk about the troubles in his life off the court, Wall lost several family members in the last few years.
After his on-court and off-court troubles combined, Wall recently revealed that he had suicidal thoughts. It was a shock to many as he never gave a hint to anyone about his mental state.
Thankfully, the 31-year-old is in a much better place right now and is gearing up for his comeback next season while donning the jersey of the Los Angeles Clippers. Anyway, after hearing the news, Marcin Gortat, Wall's former teammate, demanded that many people need to apologize to the point guard.
Via BasketballNews:
"A lot of people owe John Wall an apology. I understand the media has to write something or say something on their shows that’s controversial and that gets all of the people’s attention because that’s what they are paid to do. But people who know John know that they were unfairly demonizing him. Not that he’s perfect, nobody is perfect. Did he make mistakes? Yes, but everybody makes mistakes. But he is not the person they were making him out to be, and it’s terrible how much that happens.”
Gortat Wants Wall To Crush Other Point Guards Next Season
Being a former teammate and possibly friend of Wall, Gortat certainly wants to see Wall do well in the upcoming season. In the same interview, Gortat urged Wall to get to his best.
"Hearing last week that my teammate contemplated suicide was devastating. Yeah, we had our issues in the past, but none of that matters now. I am cheering for John and want him to be successful both on and off the court."
He continued, "I wanna see John demolish every other point guard in the league. Just go on a tear. I remember seeing him battle every game — Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul — and people forget how good he was, how fast he was end to end, how explosive he was. John was special, and I want to see him get back to that. But more importantly, I want him to heal because he has literally gone through hell over these last years."
Wall will soon turn 32 years old, but it feels like he still has a lot of fuel left in his tank before retiring from the NBA.
In the 2022-23 NBA season, he is in the perfect position to make a comeback and quite possibly make the Los Angeles Clippers one of the best teams in the league. And the fact that he will be teaming up with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will make his job easier.
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