For years, John Wall was considered the heart and soul of the Washington Wizards. He was their All-Star, their leader, and considered one of the top-tier playmakers and rising starsin the Association.
As usually happens for small market teams, that didn’t always translate into playoff success. They had some solid postseason runs but failed to reach the NBA Finals in his best years with the team.
So, after signing one of the largest contracts in NBA history and suffering several injuries, the Wizards understandably tried to get rid of him. The only problem? They did it all behind his back.
NBA News: John Wall Says Washington Wizards Betrayed Him
“Russ [Westbrook] DM’s me out of nowhere,” Wall said in an interview.“I know Russ. Me and Russ cool, say what’s up to each other if I see you, but a lot of people you just don’t have they number. Like, I got respect for you, but I just don’t got that relationship. So, he DM’s me like, ‘yo, what’s your number?’ I’m like, ‘f**k you mean, what’s my number?’ He texts me like, ‘yo, DC wants to get me, but they said you don’t want to leave’. I’m like, ‘f**k no, ni**a, been here for ten years. This my franchise. Why would I want to leave?”
“I come out here and work out for a month. Brad all mad about this s**t. I get it. We had a real conversation, like man-to-man talked about it and s**t. My brother. Nothing against him,” Wall added.“Still love him to death. He was there for me when my mom passed when a lot of m***********s weren’t. We talking and s**t and I’m like, ‘well, what we gonna do? We gonna run it back one more year, or you don’t know?’ Once he said, ‘I got to think about it’, I knew I was traded. You got to think about it, some s**t going different.”
Well, that’s just another example of one of the most ruthless businessesin the sports industry. This is just how the NBA goes, albeit one would expect more class from a team you gave the best decade of your career.