John Wall on NBA’s best handle, Clipper’s roster comparison, and what Kawhi is really like
John Wall transitioned from being a five-time NBA All-Star, a Slam Dunk Contest champion, and the face of the Washington Wizards to a role player on the Los Angeles Clippers with a wealth of knowledge in head coach Tyronn Lue’s system.
His perseverance over the last few years has been admirable, personally and professionally. The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft was limited to a combined 73 games in his last three seasons in Washington, missing the entire 2019-20 campaign to recover from heel and Achilles injuries. He lost his mom during that time, and a year later he lost his grandmother.
Wall was traded to the Houston Rockets in December 2020 and played 40 games in 2020-21 before the franchise committed to a roster rebuild. He sat out the 2021-22 season and had the final year of his contract bought out last summer to allow him to become a free agent. He signed a two-year, $13 million deal with the Clippers, who have the roster to compete for a championship with stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Wall sat down with Bally Sports in Los Angeles to discuss his Clippers role, the grieving process, today’s NBA, the Wizards, and Leonard.
What was the biggest adjustment in playing on the West Coast as a Clipper versus being back East?
It feels like it’s late as hell over here, you know what I mean? My first couple of games we’re over here playing at 7 and it’s over there on the East Coast, so I’m getting used to that. But other than that, it’s cold as hell splitting games between the Lakers and the Kings and trying to figure out some of those 1 o’clock games.
You’ve played against the Wizards twice this season. Does it feel like visiting the old school that you transferred from?
Oh yeah for sure, that’s exactly what it is. You got to be there for a little bit of time before you, like, transfer from a school, so yeah it was a surreal amazing moment to be there. But as you said, you get chills going back. And you go back to all the things you used to do before the game and stay in that routine like all the spots that I used to eat at — Do I walk in the locker room this way? Or walk in that way? — and I had to try to get adjusted to all of that. But I think that was fun and it was great to get that type of love from the city (where) they have embraced me since I was a little kid and I embrace them back.
Do you see comparisons to Kawhi and Michael Jordan?
Oh yeah. The midrange is crazy. That s— is amazing! Defensively, how he is just to see him (and) how he gets locked in, it’s like, “I want to be great.” Having a guy like that, we know that we can go to at any moment when times get hard is like, OK, you really can’t stop him. He can only stop himself. And that’s how you look at Mike. But Mike was more explosive. Kawhi is more methodical with more of a simple basic game, and he gets to his spots.
When Kawhi scores on people does he do a lot of talking?
He doesn’t talk! He doesn’t talk at all. Mike talks s—. He doesn’t talk, but he opens up more than most people think he does. He talks when he’s chilling with the guys, so he’s a lot more open than people think he is. On the court, he doesn’t say s—. I mean, I don’t want a guy giving me 40, and he doesn’t talk. I like to hear somebody talk s—! He’s like, “Take these buckets and keep movin’!”