John Wall Opens Up About Wizards Departure: "I Deserved The Honesty & Respect"

BYCole Blake3.1K Views
Link Copied to Clipboard!
Carmen Mandato / Getty Images
John Wall, Rockets, Wizards
John Wall got honest about his departure from the Wizards ahead of the Rockets' trip to Washington, this week.

Houston Rockets guard John Wall is opening up about his departure from the Washington Wizards ahead of his upcoming matchup in D.C., Monday. Wall says the team failed to give him "honesty and respect," which offended him after he spent a decade with the organization.

Wall spoke with The Athletic to speak about his feelings going into Monday's game:

I felt like I deserved the honesty and respect because I’ve been there for 10 years. I’ve been through the bad times, when we had s****y teams and when we had good teams in D.C. I never turned my back on the organization. I played through damn near every injury that a lot of people wouldn’t have played through. I played through broken hands in the playoffs. I think I did everything I could and gave everything I had, heart and soul to the organization on and off the court.

The Wizards drafted Wall with the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. In the years following, Wall and the Wizards failed to get farther than the Conference Semifinals.

Carmen Mandato / Getty Images

Bradley Beal joined the Wizards in 2012 and, despite rumors of their animosity, Wall and Beal clearly developed a close relationship.

“It was emotional,” Wall said, describing the moment he informed Beal that he was headed to Houston. “Both of us were crying.”

He continued: “The number one goal is, you didn’t give me the opportunity for me and Brad to run it back, like y’all said we [would]. That was [my] and our ultimate goal. It was, ‘OK, we’re gonna give it one more shot.’ If it’s just one year or two years, we were gonna give it one more shot just to see. … And it’s just crazy we never got to do that. I don’t think they wanted to do that. I think they moved forward and did whatever they wanted, which is cool. But that was the most frustrating thing than anything. Like, to have an opportunity to run it back with my brother and playing with the guy, the level he’s on now.”

[Via]


About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.
...