Earlier this year, there were a few stories praising John Wall for using his injury recovery time to finish his college education. It was reported that he intends to finish his degree in Business Management at Kentucky. When he graduates, he will join a unique group of professional athletes who have also prioritized their educations, including Troy Polamalu, Vince Carter, Venus Williams, Big Ben, Bo Jackson, Shaq (and MBA and a PhD!) and Michael Jordan.
While we all should wholeheartedly support Wall’s honorable decision to complete his degree, there is one minor detail being overlooked. He doesn’t need to study business; the John Wall contract is absurdly large, proving he is already the savviest businessman in the NBA!
Wall managed to turn being the first overall pick, a career sub-20 PER and a few short-lived playoff appearances into one of the biggest contracts in the entire NBA. Let’s dig into the details a bit and see if any of this makes sense.
The soon to be Kentucky graduate has had a decent career so far. He has an injury problem. Without counting this season, he has missed 25 percent of his games, but this can be overlooked if everything else looks great. He is a five time All-Star and a Slam Dunk Champion. He made the All-NBA third Team in 2017.
Let’s look right past that incredible third team All-NBA inclusion and get into the John Wall contract.
Wall will make US$38 million this year without setting foot on the court. Over the next three years he will earn an additional US$133 million.
Russell Westbrook and James Harden are the most comparable players as the length of their contracts and payouts are nearly identical. Let’s look at their stats and see how they compare.
John Wall contract / Player comps
| Player | PPG | RPG | APG | FG%/3P%/FT% | PER |
| Wall | 19.9 | 4.3 | 9.2 | 43%/32%/78% | 19.4 |
| Westbrook | 23.2 | 7.1 | 8.3 | 43%/30%/80% | 23.5 |
| Harden | 25.1 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 44%/36%/86% | 24.8 |
Wall’s stats are legitimately pretty good, but they are clearly a step behind Westbrook and Harden. PER tells the most complete story that he simply isn’t as valuable on the court when compared to the two Houston Rockets teammates.
The wildest aspect of the John Wall contract is that if we look at the last ten seasons of Win Shares during the Wall era in Washington, you will see one very alarming stat quickly pop off the page:
Wizards’ win share leader past 10 years
| Year | W-L | WS Leader | WS Total |
| 2010-11 | 23-59 | J. McGee | 5.3 wins |
| 2011-12 | 20-46 | J. Wall | 3.5 wins |
| 2012-13 | 29-53 | M. Webster | 6.3 wins |
| 2013-14 | 44-38 | M. Gortat | 8.1 wins |
| 2014-15 | 46-36 | M. Gortat | 8.6 wins |
| 2015-16 | 41-41 | M. Gortat | 7.3 wins |
| 2016-17 | 49-33 | O. Porter | 9.4 wins |
| 2017-18 | 43-39 | O. Porter | 8.1 wins |
| 2018-19 | 32-50 | B. Beal | 4.0 wins |
Aside from a single 20-win season, Wall has never been the most important contributor on his team. He was outshined by Martell Webster, Marcin Gortat and Otto Porter! In the season where he did lead the team in win shares, he only contributed a paltry 3.5 wins! Even at the height of his power, the esteemed 2017 season where he was the starting point guard on the All-NBA third team, Porter still contributed more wins.
Now, this can be somewhat overlooked when a player has that special playoff magic like Tony Parker or Big Shot Bob, Robert Horry. The problem is that Wall is barely getting them into the playoffs. He has led Washington there four times (Do I have to say that Otto Porter led them there now? That seems more accurate!) but only one did they finish top four in the Eastern Conference. Even if he was incredible during the playoffs, we wouldn’t experience it that often.
The other bad ink
The bad ink on the John Wall contract is bad, but it’s matched by the bad ink on his body. I don’t like to make fun of anyone’s tattoos, but as a Wizards’ fan I am a little bit salty about this contract. And as bad as that ink is, Wall’s other ink might be worse. Let’s take a look at some of his tattoos.
The number “5” in his armpit
You rarely see armpit tattoos because of the immense pain of getting a tattoo there, but Wall has a giant-sized number “5” taking up his entire right armpit. Doing it is impressive, but the actual tattoo doesn’t justify the time or pain it required.
The Great Wall
I mean, Wall is his name, but we are in the Trump era. I don’t think it would be possible to not to make a joke about Mexico paying for his tattoo.
Mom’s face
Ok, this one is too much. I love my mom. You hopefully love your mom. But getting a likeness of her face on the back of your neck? It’s a bit much. And if you really want to honor her, why not get it somewhere you can actually see it?
