3 questions facing the Washington Wizards after the All-Star break

Are the Wizards sure they don’t want Wall to play this year?

This alone may be the very most important question that this Washington Wizards front office will have to firmly address. While general manager Tommy Sheppard did say that John Wall wouldn’t be coming back this season, things change fast in the NBA.

Sheppard didn’t concretely rule out a Wall return this season, and rightfully so. Right now, the Wizards are on a path that hopefully sees them finish out the year in the playoff picture. It wouldn’t make any sense to put their franchise point guard under that kind of pressure.

But say the Wizards absolutely fall off when they return, and playoffs become an absolute impossibility. Would it make sense to play Wall at the end of March or mid-April, in what could be dubbed the garbage time of the 2019-2020 campaign?

After being traded from the New York Knicks to the Dallas Mavericks, Kristaps Porzingis rested for the entirety of last season. And he still has off nights, quite frequently. Do the Wizards want Wall to still be shaking off rust in February of next year? Absolutely not.

While this year isn’t ‘do or die’ in terms of berthing the postseason, next season absolutely is. If Washington has another crap year next season, it may be time to explore a Beal-trade and rebuild.

Unless Wall’s not 100 percent, there’s always going to be an argument for giving him some floor time at the end of this season; provided the Wizards are out of the playoff picture. But it’s Washington’s most pressing matter, and certainly not one they’re going to take lightly.