Rockets, John Wall agree to contract buyout prior to free agency

As first reported by Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports, the Houston Rockets and veteran point guard John Wall have agreed to a contract buyout that will allow the five-time All-Star to be an unrestricted free agent when the NBA’s 2022 market opens on Thursday, June 30.

According to Haynes, Wall will give back approximately $7 million to the Rockets of his $47.4-million contract for the 2022-23 season. He will recoup some or all of that in free agency, when he will reportedly sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wall’s original contract, which was one of the NBA’s most expensive, was given to him in 2017 by Washington — prior to a series of debilitating leg injuries. Though Wall did return to the court with the Rockets in 2020-21, that bloated, super-max deal for a player who had medical concerns and was at least somewhat past his prime proved difficult to trade.

Houston was the only team to trade for Wall after those injury issues, and they did so in late 2020 in large part because the Wizards incentivized the Rockets with a future first-round draft pick. Later, that pick became part of Houston’s trade for promising young center Alperen Sengun.

Wall did not play at all in the 2021-22 season, with the rebuilding Rockets opting to prioritize starting minutes for the development of Kevin Porter Jr. at point guard. Yet, with two seasons left on Wall’s contract at that time, the Rockets did not immediately engage in buyout talks and waited to explore trade options once his contract entered the final year.

But even with one year left, as is the case today, any trade hypotheticals for Wall were complicated by the fact that Houston is now positioned to have major salary cap room in 2023, and a contract buyout preserving that room is preferable to a trade taking back longer-term money. For most teams, it is impossible to find nearly $47 million in expiring salaries for matching purposes. The Rockets were able to do it with Dallas in the Christian Wood trade, but Wood was only making $14.3 million.

After exploring the trade market in the period surrounding last week’s draft, it appears general manager Rafael Stone reached the conclusion that whatever possibilities exist (if any) aren’t preferable to a buyout. Moreover, buying out Wall prior to free agency allowed him to have full control over his next NBA destination. Had the Rockets waited, it’s possible the Clippers could have signed a different point guard, instead.

Under Stone’s watch, the Rockets have often prioritized building positive relationships with players and agents around the league, presumably in hopes that those may lead to fruitful negotiations with other clients down the road (perhaps in 2023, when Houston will have cap room).

Last fall, Wall’s powerful agent — Rich Paul of Klutch Sports — used the non-playing arrangement between Wall and the Rockets as a positive example that he wanted to see followed by Philadelphia and Ben Simmons. That may have further nudged Houston in the direction of a buyout, since preserving that type of relationship could be more worthwhile than trading Wall for a very limited asset return or stalling in hopes of a better trade coming available at a later date.

The most popular Wall trade hypothetical involved the Lakers and ill-fitting guard Russell Westbrook, who has a nearly identical contract that also expires after next season. In theory, that could have preserved Houston’s salary cap flexibility. But if the Lakers held firm on their reported reluctance to include any first-round draft asset to incentivize the Rockets, then a mere second-round pick might not be worth the downside of going against the wishes of Wall and his representation.

In one season (2020-21) with the Rockets, Wall averaged 20.6 points and 6.9 assists in 32.2 minutes per game. Houston traded for Wall in December 2020, when former superstar James Harden was still on the roster, but the organization’s direction changed to a full-fledged rebuild once Harden was traded approximately six weeks later. From Houston’s perspective, Wall made sense for a possible contender, but not a rebuild.

Now, the 31-year-old has the freedom to pick his next contender.