John Wall is already a starting point guard. He is already an NBA All-Star.
Now he’s ready to become a league MVP.
And a Hall of Famer.
The explosive floor general spoke extensively with Basketball Insiders’ Alex Kennedy about his offseason, his Washington Wizards’ immediate potential and aspirations, and his own individual goals. As always, Wall didn’t shy away from being ambitious:
Basketball Insiders: I think people forget how young you are since you’ve been so successful in your first five NBA seasons. You just recently turned 25 years old. How much more room for improvement do you feel you have?
John Wall: “I have a lot of room left to grow. I’m nowhere near reaching my full potential. I think I’m still just scratching the surface of how great I can be. I want to keep getting better. I think the only way you can be a superstar in this league and [become] a Hall of Fame player is by improving every season and getting better at something. That’s something I’m willing to put in the work to do, and I think I have a great opportunity to do that this year.”
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Basketball Insiders: What are some of your individual goals for this year?
John Wall: “I want to be in the MVP conversation and give myself a shot at being the MVP. That means I need to play well, help my teammates play well, get those guys shots and lead my team to wins. I definitely want to be an All-Star starter again. I want to be All-NBA First Team. I want to be on the All-Defensive First Team; I was All-Defensive Second Team last year. I think I was snubbed from the All-NBA Third Team last year, but I just use that as motivation for this year to try to get better. Another individual goal is definitely leading the league in assists this year. There are a lot of things I want to do, but those are some of the main ones.”
Throw in those All-NBA selections while you’re at it. This writer is honest enough–though perhaps also naive enough—to admit that he didn’t realize Wall has never been selected to an All-NBA team. That’s pretty freaking incredible, and it speaks to a number of different things, most notably the fact that point guard is a ridiculously deep position, and that Wall is only entering his sixth NBA season, even though it sometimes feels like he’s been playing forever.
Entering the Hall of Fame discussion isn’t something Wall will do over the course of a season. It’s something that happens over time. He’s already identified as one of the best point men in today’s league, so he’s at least trending in the right direction. It’s wholly unclear whether or not he’ll make the leap to surefire Hall of Fame candidate, but that summation is basically a blessing, since it means we can’t rule him out.
Joining the MVP conversation is possible, and this season is a good time for Wall to do it. The MVP ranks aren’t getting any less competitive, but for a playoff team, the Wizards have endured ample turnover through the last two summers. They lost Trevor Ariza last summer, and they waived goodbye to Paul Pierce this summer. They’ve also hosted the decline of Nene, and the development of Otto Porter hasn’t gone according to plan.
Wall’s second-best teammate is either Bradley Beal or Marcin Gortat, neither of whom qualifies as a star. LeBron James has Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Stephen Curry has Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. James Harden has Dwight Howard. The absence of a second luminary increases Wall’s importance to Washington, giving him better than a puncher’s chance of being mentioned alongside the league’s hottest, most valuable names.
Believe it or not, at only 25, next season could be Wall’s final shot at legitimately entering the MVP ranks. If the Wizards sign Kevin Durant next summer, Wall is no longer their most valuable player, at least not for the next three to five years, at which point he wouldn’t even be in his prime. That’s something to consider as well.
Moral of the story: Wall has dreams. Big dreams. Massive dreams. And this season is as good a time as any for him to try and make his latest ambitions come true.
