John Wall and the Houston decided to go their separate ways this past week. While the organization is refusing to buy out its 31-year-old guard, it has agreed to help facilitate a trade to the best of its abilities.
This divorce is a win-win. Wall has his reasons for wanting to move; the Rockets have theirs. A split is mutually beneficial.
Wall is due $91.7 million over the next two seasons, including a player option for $47.4 million in 2022-23. Beyond that, he has also been limited to 113 outings over the last four seasons due to a lot of really bad health issues. Not exactly the sort of track record that warrants a small fortune.
Wall is set to be the third highest-paid player in the NBA next year behind Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets.
According to NBA insider Chris Broussard, there is only one truly viable option for Wall’s services: the Los Angeles Clippers.
“I think there is one team, and one team only, that is a good fit for John Wall. It’s the L.A. Clippers,” he said.
Broussard’s sentiments notwithstanding, the Clippers are actually one of three teams that are said to be in the running for Wall’s services. Whether they are the favorites or not remains to be seen.
Wall averaged 20.6 points last season on 40/32/75 shooting splits. Houston won 17 games with him. Clearly he no longer has what it takes to carry a squad. Nevertheless – he also obviously has enough in the tank at this point in his career to be a meaningful contributor somewhere.
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