John Wall’s run with the Los Angeles Clippers may be over already. The Clippers are proactively trying to trade Wall and are considering buyout him out if the team cannot find a trade partner, according to Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times.
Wall signed a two-year, $13.3 million deal with the Clippers in July after the Houston Rockets bought out the final year of his four-year, $171 million super-max contract.
Initially, Wall seemed like an ideal fit. However, his fit with the Clippers is in question. The five-time All-Star is averaging 11.4 points and 5.2 assists in 22.2 minutes through 34 games. All are career lows for the former No. 1 overall pick.
His numbers are down due to the Clippers’ roster structure. The ball plays through stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. That makes it difficult for a third player to get touches.
Wall admitted as such to Greif, stating the team needs a different type of point guard — play defense and stand in the corner to shoot threes. Wall brought up Mario Chalmers, who played with the Miami Heat’s Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.
After being the No. 1 overall pick in 2010, John Wall spent ten years with the Washington Wizards. But injuries have derailed his career since 2018. The most significant injury, a ruptured Achilles kept him off the court for nearly two years.
The Wizards traded him to the Rockets just ahead of the 2020-21 season. Wall averaged over 20 points and 6.9 assists through 40 games with Houston. The Rockets and Wall mutually agreed for him to sit out the following season before deciding on a buyout in July.
The Clippers were the team Wall was going to rejuvenate his career. Unfortunately, Wall has been out since Jan. 13 with an abdominal injury. He’s seemingly lost his spot in the rotation in his absence. Now, he’s been made available for trades and could hit the free agent market if a deal can’t get done by the Feb. 9 trade deadline.
