3 buyout candidates for the Portland Trail Blazers to monitor

Buyout candidate the Portland Trail Blazers should monitor: John Wall

John Wall is the forgotten star; tagged with an insanely overpriced contract, coming off of multiple career-threatening injuries, and playing on a suddenly rebuilding team, he’s been moved to the wayside in terms of NBA fandom.

If the league still had a Comeback Player of the Year, Wall would have been deserving of major consideration for the hardware with the performance he put up last year for the Houston Rockets.

Playing 40 games, he averaged 20.6 points, 6.9 assists, and 1.1 steals a contest while taking the most 3-pointers per game in his career.

It was obvious that Wall is still adjusting to his decreased athleticism, and the minor injuries that he added to his health report last season didn’t help. Despite that step he’s lost however, he’s still plenty capable of getting to the rim and creating for his teammates.

His weakened legs didn’t stop him from attacking the cup, as he finished 14th overall in drives per game according to NBA.com. This put him ahead of renowned slashers Pascal Siakam, Derrick Rose, and even Portland’s own Damian Lillard.

He’s also still one of the best floor generals in the league. That assist average doesn’t reflect the fact, but most of it’s due to the strength of the recipients of his passes. Wall finished in the top-10 for potential assists per game, just behind Dame, but ahead of LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, and 2021 MVP Nikola Jokic.

Guard may be an excess for Portland, but playmakers are not. The only Blazer capable of making this play is Damian Lillard and he carries too much of the offensive load as is. Wall is clearly still a blur when he puts his head down, can quickly collapse a defense, and has the vision and accuracy to find open shooters.

This was one of his 13 assists against the Los Angeles Clippers, in a game where he also happened to drop 27 points.

Adding John Wall would absolutely give the Blazers the best point guard rotation in the league. The Houston Rockets may be forced to give Portland the opportunity as they currently have 18 players signed on for 2021-2022. If Wall is one of the three cuts they have to make, the Blazers should not hesitate to bring him in.