Tuesday, John Wall will get to play his former team, the Washington Wizards, for the first time since being traded to the Houston Rockets for Russell Westbrook. Wall previously downplayed the significant of the game when speaking to Houston media. However, he opened up about the emotions playing the Wizards to Chris Miller of NBC Sports Washington.
“Just seeing everybody that’s over there, a lot of people that’s on that side that probably didn’t believe I could come back to be the person I am. And probably some people that had a little say so into me being traded,” Wall told Miller.
“I feel like it was a whole process and it wasn’t just something that happened overnight. I think this was in the works. That’s my motivation. Who wouldn’t want to beat the team that traded them and felt like I was done?”
Wall spent 10 years with the Wizards after being chosen first overall in the 2010 NBA Draft. In Washington, Wall became the face of the franchise, guiding the team to four postseason appearances, including 2017 when the team was one game away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.
Unfortunately, that was the pinnacle of Wall’s era in Washington. Injuries piled up for the five-time all-star, thereafter, that culminated with a ruptured Achilles in 2018. Wall was forced out of action for two calendar years.
Just as he was set to return from the two-year hiatus, the Wizards traded him and a heavily-protected first-round pick to Houston for Westbrook in December. Wall believes the Wizards had their doubts. Thus, getting on the court against his former team will be personal.
“I feel like it is. I definitely feel so because, I know I had my say so and my responsibilities with what I did off the court and things I [did], but I owned up to those. I said my apologies and that’s the best I can do. Nobody’s perfect. We all live and learn from our mistakes. I wish it would have never happened, but it happened, yes. I moved forward from it. My mindset was to come back and compete at a high level in the one jersey I only knew for 10 years,” Wall said, perhaps referencing the offseason video he apologized for that purportedly showed him flashing gang signs at a party.
There is sure to be a arrange of emotions for Wall when he takes the court against the team that drafted him. The game will also be the first time he’ll be an opponent to Bradley Beal. Wall will certainly seek to prove the Wizards wrong for their decision to trade him.
