Washington Wizards: Where John Wall fits in the league
Now that John Wall has agreed to a four-year extension with the Washington Wizards, it’s time to find out where his numbers and contract measure up in the NBA.
For the Washington Wizards, it was never a question of whether they should offer their star point guard John Wall a maximum extension or not. The question quickly become, will he agree to it? Adding another four years to his deal would lock down the All-Star through the 2022-23 NBA season.
As of July 1, 2017, John Wall was offered the maximum extension by the Wizards. Wall made the team sweat a bit, waiting 21 days before finally accepting. Did he wait because he wasn’t sure if he wanted to commit to Washington long term? Did he want to see how the Wizards approached free agency?
There are questions we most likely won’t ever know the true answers to. But now that John Wall has signed his extension, barring trade, he will be a Wizard for the foreseeable future, which means it’s time for us to look at how John Wall stacks up in this league, and if his numbers on the court support the numbers in his wallet.
During the 2016-16 NBA season there were only three players who averaged over 20 points and 10 assists per game:
- Russell Westbrook: 31.6 PPG, 10.4 APG
- James Harden: 29.1 PPG, 11.2 APG
- John Wall: 23.1 PPG, 10.7 APG
While Wall has the least points per game by far, this is still incredibly impressive. He is one of three players to average these numbers, and the other two finished first and second in NBA MVP voting for the 2016-17 season.
In this aspect, Wall, who wasn’t really a strong consideration for MVP, might be undervalued. Another interesting factor to consider for John Wall is the difference all three of these players made in the 2016-17 season:
- Russell Westbrook: $26,540,100
- James Harden: $26,540,100
- John Wall: $16,957,900
While all three players get paid a hefty amount, and all three are set to make much more money down the line, for the 2016-17 NBA season, John Wall cost way less than James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
Running the numbers to compare statistical input against players salary, one receives the following:
- How much the Oklahoma City Thunder paid Westbrook for 1 point per game: $839,876.58
- How much the Houston Rockets pay Harden for 1 point per game: $912,030.93
- How much the Washington Wizards pay Wall for 1 point per game: $734,108.22
What these findings show us (other than that basketball players get paid a lot of money), is that for what the Wizards are paying John Wall, the man is putting up incredible numbers. It explains why the Washington Wizards jumped in immediately to lock up their All-Star for as long as possible.
John Wall’s points versus salary ratio isn’t the only thing that makes him such a significant player against the likes of Russell Westbrook and James Harden however. Wall also exceeds the two in other categories like steals per game, assist-to-turnover ratio, youth and even blocks (though not by much).
Wall is as versatile of a player as they come, his stats lineup with the best in the entire league, and his previous contract looks like a modest amount considering the cap increase from the 2015-16 offseason.
Next: 2017 NBA free agency tracker - Grades for every deal so far
Wall deserves to get paid as much as humanly possible and then some, and kudos to the Washington Wizards for not hesitating to give him $170 million.