Weighed down by injuries, John Wall has fallen into depression, now seeking a mentoring role that no franchise wants to entrust to him.
But ten years ago, the man who is celebrating his 34th birthday on September 6 was a young wolf with big teeth. The first choice in the 2010 Draft was supposed to revive a franchise that was drifting, still digesting the last years of Gilbert Arenas, and looking for a leader to climb back up the hierarchy in the East.
In pursuit of a maximum contract, John Wall had forced himself into training in the summer of 2012, injuring his knee and missing the first third of the campaign. But by the end of the season, he had shown his talent.
The solid Grizzlies do not hold the shock
Like this match against the solid Grizzlies (who would go to the conference finals that year), on March 25, 2013, probably his best in his career. Because even if he scored more (52 points in a defeat against the Magic, in December 2016), this match with 47 points (13/22 shooting), 8 assists and 7 rebounds remains a model in terms of efficiency.
To the point of pushing the Verizon Center crowd to shout “MVPs” during his passes on the line, during this victory (107-94) against Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Zach Randolph and company.
“No, I’m not an MVP” then pushed the young leader aside. “I'm just happy to finally be able to play well, to be able to be healthy, to be able to turn things around. Like I said before, if the team stays healthy from start to finish, we'll definitely be a playoff team. That's how I feel.”
And that would be proven the following year, with a conference semifinal appearance for Washington. Unfortunately for John Wall, Bradley Beal and company, this group would not go any further, with three conference semifinals in four years, between 2014 and 2017, before injuries weighed down the leader for good.
