John Wall will miss the remainder of the season with a hamstring injury, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania. ESPN's Tim MacMahon reports that the Houston Rockets point guard has suffered a Grade 2 strain. Wall, who missed the entire 2019-20 season due to a torn Achilles tendon, played only 40 games this season, his first with the Houston Rockets. In that time, he averaged over 20 points per game on efficiency only slightly worse than he had posted when healthy with the Washington Wizards.
But the Rockets are moving in a different direction than they initially expected after acquiring him. Months after swapping Russell Westbrook for Wall and a draft pick, they dealt James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets and began rebuilding. They traded Victor Oladipo and PJ Tucker at the trade deadline in an attempt to focus on their younger players and protect their first-round draft pick, which the Thunder can acquire via swap rights if it falls outside of the top four. The Rockets will now experiment with different lineup combinations featuring their younger players, according to Charania.
Offensively, that will likely mean more shots and touches for young guard Kevin Porter Jr., who was acquired through a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this season. Porter is averaging 15.5 points and 6.2 assists per game in Houston and has been one of the team's few bright spots in a disappointing season.
Wall is owed over $44 million next season and has a player option for over $47 million for the 2022-23 season that he is widely expected to pick up. With Houston moving towards a rebuild, they will likely look into dealing Wall's contract, but given his injury history and poor shooting, finding a taker will be difficult. The Rockets may be shelving Wall for now, but his future with the team is still unclear.
