Wizards Legend John Wall Officially Retires From Basketball

Posted on by Basketball Forever Staff
Wall

John Wall, one of the fastest guards the league has ever seen, is officially calling it a career.

The former No. 1 overall pick in 2010 announced his retirement Tuesday in a video message, closing the book on an 11-year NBA journey that made him a Washington Wizards legend.

Wall kept it simple in his farewell.

“Today, I’m stepping off of the court, but not away from the game,” Wall said in a social media post on Tuesday. “Basketball will always be in my life, and new opportunities present themselves. I feel now is the time to walk confidently into my next chapter.”

The 34-year-old point guard first rose to prominence as a high school star, drawing national attention when he was invited to the Reebok All-American Camp as a sophomore.

From there, he became one of the most highly ranked recruits in the country, before heading to Kentucky for a single season.

That lone year was enough to convince the Wizards to take him first overall in the 2010 NBA Draft. Wall delivered right away, averaging 16.4 points and 8.3 assists as a rookie and finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting to Blake Griffin.

Wall’s best years came in Washington, where he was the engine behind a string of playoff runs. He averaged 19 points and 9.2 assists across nine seasons with the Wizards, making five straight All-Star Games. His peak came in 2016-17 when he averaged 23.1 points and 10.7 assists, earning All-NBA honors and finishing seventh in MVP voting.

But injuries altered his path. Wall ruptured his Achilles during the 2019 offseason and missed the entire following season. He made a comeback with the Houston Rockets in 2020-21 and later joined the Los Angeles Clippers, but he never fully regained his pre-injury explosiveness.

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