John Wall has not set foot on the court for the rebuilding Houston Rockets. That trend appears likely to continue all season.
There are teams interested in Wall as a buyout candidate, but I can give you 47 million reasons that’s not happening.
For example, the contending Miami Heat would have interest in a bought-out Wall, but even as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald made that report he admitted he is not happening.
It’s the same with Wall trade talk, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix said on his podcast. He spoke to executives who said they might have interest in Wall as a buyout candidate on a minimum contract, but nobody wants the $91.7 million he is owed this season and next (again, Wall’s contract for next season is a player option, but it’s safe to say he will pick that up). To make a trade work, the Rockets would have to attach so many picks and/or young players as sweeteners it would cut off their rebuild efforts at the knees.
There are players who were owed a lot of money over multiple years who gave back large sums of cash to get out of those deals and play for a contender, or at least somewhere else. Kemba Walker reportedly gave up $20 million to get out of Oklahoma City so he could sign with the Knicks. Blake Griffin reportedly gave up about $13.3 million to get out of Detroit to play for Brooklyn.
Wall is under no obligation to follow that path — if he wants all his money, he will get paid all his money. He’s not playing now because he and the Rockets agreed he would sit out while both sides looked for a trade. As noted above, no trade is coming, so he’s sitting out.
Maybe next offseason the Rockets will decide to eat the full $47.4 million (or very close to it) of Wall’s remaining contract to free up the roster spot. But for this season, he will sit and the two sides will look for a trade that does not seem to be on the horizon.