4 Reasons the Washington Wizards need to play John Wall this season
By Ethan Smith
It’s Been Too Long
Maybe it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long since we’ve seen John Wall. With all the workout and practice videos, or just the constant back and forths about how the Wizards should handle his rehab, maybe we’ve forgotten how long it has been. But it’s been a very long time since we’ve seen John Wall play. And it’ll only be longer if we wait until the start of next season.
The last time John Wall played a basketball game, Anthony Davis was a Pelican, Paul George was in Oklahoma City, Kawhi Leonard was north of the border, and Ja Morant was still relatively unknown. The NBA landscape has changed. A lot.
Right now, we are more than 14 months removed from John Wall’s last NBA game. If he doesn’t play until the start of next season, October 2020, then he’ll have a 22-month gap between NBA games. That’s almost two full years off. We saw what a few months off did to defensive stud Andre Iguodala. Trae Young had him falling over in his return, and Iguodala was out for less than a full season, with no injury rehab to do.
While it’s no guarantee that so much time off has wrecked Wall’s game (it almost certainly hasn’t), the time off definitely affected Wall’s game.
Assuming Wall’s healthy and the Wizards are out of the playoff race, the end of the season will be a perfect time to get back in the swing of NBA action, void of any real pressure or expectations.
It’ll be tough to hold Wall back or limit his role given how competitive he really is, so inserting him into a playoff push, and possibly a playoff series, with the amount of rust he’ll have seems like the wrong idea. Instead, wait until the focus is back on the lottery, and let Wall ease back into it with largely meaningless minutes.