A wild NBA trade deadline day saw an odd trade between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers.
Houston traded Eric Gordon and three second-round picks to Los Angeles in exchange for John Wall, Danny Green and a pick swap. The Memphis Grizzlies were also involved in the trade, landing Luke Kennard from the Clippers.
It may seem like a normal trade, but just last week, Wall ripped the Rockets’ organization on the "Run Your Race" podcast in which he didn’t hold back any of his feelings about the team.
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"Trash. Beyond trash," he said.
WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
Wall elaborated on his time in Houston, which eventually ended in a buyout prior to this season. It’s been well documented the rough stretch that Wall went through from losing his mother, dealing with an Achilles injury and then the COVID-19 pandemic hitting. All of that led to Wall not playing the 2019-2020 season, then he was moved to the Rockets.
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That marriage didn’t start off on the right foot as James Harden, with whom Wall thought he would be paired up, already wanted to move on.
"He already wants out. When I landed [in Houston], I’m like, ‘What up? I’m about to land. About to go do my conference.’ He like, ‘I’m on my way to Atlanta for Lil Baby’s birthday.’"
Harden was eventually traded to the Brooklyn Nets, and Wall quickly became the veteran that had to mentor a very young Rockets squad. But Wall knew what was happening: Houston was tanking.
"Went there, worked my a-- off and played. We lost 20 in a row. We was trying to lose on purpose – tanking," he said.
"This is how our starting lineup was: me, David Nwaba, Jae’Sean Tate, Justin Patton and somebody else. I’m like, ‘Who the f--- can I win a game with with this s---?’"
Wall added that he embraced the mentor role, telling his teammates the cold, hard truth about the Rockets compared to the rest of the NBA.
"Me, I was just being a professional," he said. "I always wanted to teach them like, ‘Don’t get used to this s---. It’s not the way the NBA is. It’s just a bad organization right now. They got to fix some s--- around.' I always talked to Jalen Green, Kevin Porter [Jr.]. I’d be like, ‘Don’t get adjusted to this losing. It’s not how the league is.’ But at the same time, I had to tell them like, ‘The s--t you all getting away with over here, you go to any other teams, you’d be out the f---ing league. You wouldn’t play.’"
Wall finished his first season with the Rockets averaging 20.6 points, 6.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds over 40 games. However, the Rockets were the worst team in the league in 2020-2021, finishing with a 17-55 record. They eventually got the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, landing Green with it.
But once Rockets new GM Rafael Stone came in for Daryl Morey, who stepped down in October 2020, Wall said he was told to come off the bench this past season.
He didn’t like that too much.
"’He wants you to play 10-15 minutes a game – sometimes don’t play,’" Wall was told. "I said I’m not doing that. Either you’re going to guarantee me some minutes or I’m not [playing]."
Wall did just that. He sat out the entire season. He said the Rockets treated him like an outcast.
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"They didn’t want me around. I had to work out like 7 a.m. like I was a rookie. I had to work out before they got there."
Wall eventually returned to Miami to be around his kids and continue training before his buyout with Houston was reached. He signed with the Clippers and has come off the bench in 34 games, averaging 11.4 points, 5.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds per contest.
And much like he left them, the Rockets are dead last in the Western Conference with a 13-42 record thus far.
Wall’s second tenure with the Rockets will certainly be interesting to watch.
