John Wall: Wizards Are Equals With Celtics, Sixers, Raptors For NBA Finals

Washington Wizards guard John Wall believes his team should be among the contenders from the East in making the NBA Finals next year.

For eight straight years, it was LeBron James-led teams that were making the NBA Finals from the East, but with the 33-year-old's departure to the West as he joined the Los Angeles Lakers this summer, it means there is a chance for a new team in the NBA Finals.

The three main favorites are the Boston Celtics, who made the Eastern Conference Finals for the last two seasons, the Philadelphia 76ers led by Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, and the Toronto Raptors who now have Kawhi Leonard's services at least for a year.

The Wizards meanwhile, are expected to finish as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. It's not a surprise either since they were poor last season with Wall injured for a good portion of the season, as they eventually exited in the first round of the playoffs.

However, despite Boston being the big favorites, Wall feels the Wizards are equals with the top contenders in the East, especially with the addition of Dwight Howard.

"I feel like we’re all equal," Wall told Yahoo Sports. "None of them won a championship. This is no knock on no other team. Don’t get me wrong."

"Boston is a hell of a team. Philly has great young talent with those guys [Joel] Embiid, [Ben] Simmons. And Toronto, losing DeMar [DeRozan], they still get Kawhi [Leonard]. Y’all might have been to the Eastern Conference finals, where we haven’t been to, but none of y’all were going to the Finals. It was one guy going to the Finals. Ain’t nobody separated from nothing. I know one guy that separated himself from the Eastern Conference every year and that was LeBron James and the Cavs. Other than that … if you lose in the second round, or the conference finals, you still didn’t get to your ultimate goal," he said.

The 27-year-old also believes there are doubts as to how the Celtics and Raptors will fare as they welcome back injured players to the team.

Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward both missed the playoffs for the Celtics but will be back for the new season while Leonard isn't guaranteed to be a hit for Toronto, especially as he just featured in nine games for the San Antonio Spurs last season.

"On paper, everybody looks great," Wall added. "We look great. Boston looks great on paper. But how are all those young guys going to mesh with Kyrie [Irving] being back? Or Gordon Hayward being back? Nobody knows how that’s going to work."

"Now, they’ve got a hell of a coach in Brad Stevens, and [with GM and president] Danny Ainge, they’re going to figure it out. But you still got to put it all together. You’ve still got to make it work on the court. We don’t know how Kawhi is going to work. We know what Simmons and Embiid are going to give you, but it’s a new year," he added.