John Wall is a stand-up guy, but he needs to fall back.
The Wizards point guard is a former No. 1 overall pick and a perennial All-Star. He's one of the most selfless givers both on the court, where he's averaged double-digit assists in each of the last two seasons, and off it, where he consistently offers his time and treasures to those in need. However, his penchant for pocket watching, a petty preoccupation with the salaries of other stars such as James Harden coupled with his beef with teammate Bradley Beal, is absolutely reprehensible. They mar the 25-year-old's image and make him come off as a multi-millionaire malcontent who wants to see his peers do well but not better than him.
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Thursday, The Ringer reported one front-office exec said Wall was jealous of Harden's four-year, $118 million extension with the Rockets. In March, The Vertical reported Wall, who once wore the stripes in games, turned down a lucrative offer from the brand because he wanted a contract more on par with Harden's highly-incentivized $200-million endorsement deal. Earlier this week, news of a riff between Wall and his backcourt mate Bradley Beal surfaced. Wall categorized the tension, which has had an adverse impact on the Wizards on the floor, as a "mutual" dislike.
Beal is two years Wall's junior. He's been good despite being hampered by serious health concerns most of his career, averaging 16 points while shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range in four years, but his highest accolade as a professional to date is being tapped a first-team choice to the 2013 All-Rookie team. Nonetheless, he became the richest player on the Wizards' roster when he rendered his John Hancock onto a five-year, $128 million contract during this summer's $1 billion free-agency spending spree, setting him up to earn almost $6 million more than Wall next season.
To put the absurdity of the market in perspective, Wall will be paid $16,957,900 in 2016-17. Veteran French big man Ian Mahinmi is due to gross $15,944,154 in the first year of a four-year $64-million contract with the Wizards. Mahinmi had the best season of his eight-year career when he averaged 9.3 points, 7.1 rebound and 1.1 blocks per game as a member of the Pacers.
JOSEPH: Beal must follow Wall's leadA league source told The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor, "Wall’s got jealousy issues. He’s always upset with someone who makes more money than him."
Added an unnamed agent: "Whatever is public, multiply it by five and that’s how they really feel about each other. It’s probably a total disaster."
Sadly, it's certainly not outside Wall's character.
Wall was utterly bemused last summer when the Pistons signed former Thunder backup Reggie Jackson to a five-year, $80-million contract, identical to the deal Wall agreed to back in 2013 before reeling off three-straight all-star seasons.
"It's like I'm getting the same amount as Reggie Jackson right now," Wall said at the time.
Jackson started all 79 games he played in, leading the Pistons in scoring (18.2 ppg) and assists (6.2 ppg). To add insult to injury, Jackson torched the Wizards for a game-high 39 points and nine assists in a 112-99 victory back on April 8 to clinch Detroit's first postseason berth in seven years as Wall sat with a sore left knee. The Wizards failed to qualify for the postseason, finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference.
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We're all complex beings. This one character flaw shouldn't completely color how we perceive Wall. It doesn't comprise the sum total of who he is.
Wall recently received the NBA's Community Assist award. He donated $400,000 to aid homeless children in D.C. and sold his own clothes to help the less fortunate. He once skipped a preseason game to go to a cancer research fundraiser. He was moved to tears and dedicated a double-overtime win against the Celtics to the memory of a young fan who died of the same disease that took the life of his father when Wall was nine.
This is an opportunity for a seemingly good man to become an even better one. Wall's pocket watching appears to be more evidence of misplaced hyper competitiveness than immature ungratefulness. His former Kentucky teammate DeMarcus Cousins has suffered from the same ailment. Remember his tweet after the Cavs forked over $82-million to secure Tristan Thompson's services for five years?
Anyone with a job is motivated by money. But Wall must recognize worrying too much about tomorrow, being overly concerned and, in this case, publicly perturbed by the numbers in someone else's account won't add one red cent to his. It can have the adverse effect when it compromises the quality of the product he and his co-workers produce.
"My whole thing is I was put on this earth to do something and I was blessed to be able to play basketball," Wall said during an emotional press conference when he re-upped with the Wizards three years ago. "My main thing was to keep striving and be a better person. That's one thing my mom always instilled in me was, 'It doesn't matter what nobody think of you as a basketball player. They always gone look at you as a person first.'"
Whether it's on the court or in corporate America, Wall should take advice from Omar Little: "A man got to have a code." Counting another man's money violates everything a player of his caliber should hold sacred. Wall is better than that, personally and professionally.