NBA: John Wall Needs To 'Find Right Context' To Resume Basketball Career, Biographer Says

John Wall will likely miss the rest of the 2021-22 NBA season with no teams agreeing to a deal with the Houston Rockets.

Unless the Rockets have a change of heart and allow the five-time All-Star to suit up, Wall may have no choice but to wait until the offseason to possibly see where he will continue his paused NBA career.

Sportswriter and Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant biographer Roland Lazenby recently weighed in on what the future holds for the 2014 BNA Slam Dunk champion during an interview with journalist Brian Yalung on the "Sports Bytes PH" podcast on Feb. 13.

Lazenby said he feels that it would be tough to find Wall a new home due to the huge contract that comes with him. The 31-year-old is in the third season of a four-year, $171.1 million deal.

“Big contract, it’s hard to lump these guys in there. They are great players, great skill set. But it is hard to take these players who are traded off because teams need to remove their contracts from the books and they put them with a young team, that’s a hard mix. You always have to have somebody who can stand up to people,” Lazenby explained.

The 70-year-old author added that NBA teams may be wary of Wall because of his history of injuries. Hence, he believes that for Wall to continue his hoop career, he needs to find the right context with the right team.

“There are some earmarks there, the circumstance more than the person. And he’s been injured and come back from injury. But I’m hesitant to include him in that group. The circumstances are there with the trading to a weaker team… all those things, I don’t know. I always say this, if a player finds the right context to the right teammates, and it’s a five-man game… if you can find that right context, then problems can go away,” Lazenby said.

The “Mad Game, The NBA Education of Kobe Bryant” continued, “So my hope for John Wall is that, before his career is over, he finds that right context.”

Wall will be paid his salary even if he does not play, and for NBA commissioner Adam Silver, the player's mutual non-playing agreement with the Rockets is an issue.

"I think it’s a problem when players are paid not to play. In some cases, that’s by mutual agreement with the team. Maybe the team is in a rebuilding situation that is focused on certain players. There’s a sense that (a) veteran player isn’t fitting in for whatever reason to the culture they’re trying to create," Silver said to reporters.

He continued, "It’s a hard line here because if it is truly by mutual agreement, I’m not sure the league office should be interfering. On the other hand… you have an aggregate hard cap, in essence, where 50% in our system is paid to the players. For every dollar that goes to a player that is not producing on the floor, that’s a dollar less that goes to a player that is performing. That shouldn’t be ideal for players or for teams."

Wall had been at the center of NBA rumors, but no deal happened in the recent trade window. However, several teams are expected to clean house in the summer and look into the possibility of bringing in the top pick of the 2010 NBA Draft.