Wall’s contract with the Wizards now runs through 2023.
John Wall and the Washington Wizards have agreed to a four-year, $170 million contract extension that will keep Wall on the Wizards until 2023, according to NBA.com’s David Aldridge. Wall’s contract also includes a 15-percent trade kicker and a player option on the final year.
The signing is the third instance of a Designated Player Veteran Extension, also known as the “supermax,” after James Harden and Stephen Curry both signed ones earlier this month. Wall still has two years remaining on his deal, but the extension adds four more while paying Wall more than $45 million in his final season.
The Wizards offered Wall the extension when free agency began, but he was reportedly not ready to accept it until he saw what moves the Wizards made. Washington matched a four-year, $106 million offer sheet for Otto Porter Jr., bringing their third-best player back on a lucrative (but deserving!) deal. They also added Jodie Meeks on a two-year, $7 million deal, a value signing that adds shooting to the team’s bench.
To qualify for a supermax extension, a player must make an All-NBA team in the year they’re eligible for the extension, among other qualifiers (such as two All-NBA team appearances in the past three years, an MVP, or a Defensive Player of the Year). Wall made the All-NBA third team this season, setting him up for the enormous extension.
Wall is 26 and he’s coming off his best season yet. He averaged several career highs: 23.1 points, 10.7 assists, 2.0 steals, and 45.1-percent field goal shooting. He can also be a stellar defender, though that motivation sometimes comes and goes. Still, the Wizards like their core of Wall, Porter and Bradley Beal, locking in their future as an Eastern Conference powerhouse for the next few years. Recycle the right mix of talent around them, and the Wizards could threaten teams and even make a Finals run.
Wall’s extension is also a fun juxtaposition on a day that another star point guard decided he didn’t want to stay with his team. While Kyrie Irving requested a trade, Wall committed to his through 2023. That’s not to say either is right or wrong, but the two guards just committed to very different paths.
