John Wall's 'Ultimate Goal' Is To Play Entire Career With One Team

[RealGM Wiretap]

John Wall will have the NBA's seventh-longest tenure with the same franchise even though he's entering just his eighth season.

Wall's fellow 2010 draft classmates, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, Gordon Hayward and Avery Bradley, have all changed teams. Wall is the last player from the 2010 draft class with his original team.

“That’s crazy, it’s shocking to me,” Wall told The Vertical. “You never know where you can be, anything can happen. I’m just glad I can be one of those guys that can say, ‘I’m still here.’ My ultimate goal is to try to be one of those guys that play my whole career with one team.”

Wall signed a four-year, $170 million extension this offseason.

Via Michael Lee/The Vertical

[YoungTrece]

Good there needs to be more loyal guys like this is the league..it doesn't help small market teams that finally get lucky in the draft by selecting a star player then they act like Paul George and want to skip town

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[Spicy P]

Lance Stephenson?

[Bobalob]

Good there needs to be more loyal guys like this is the league..it doesn't help small market teams that finally get lucky in the draft by selecting a star player then they act like Paul George and want to skip town

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That's actually hilarious bc 95% of the guys who are with diffenrt teams had no say in it. Yet fans only notice the 1 or 2 guys who leave and that's who needs to be more loyal?

*Edit:2 guys out of 64 so actually it's more like 97%

[jakebernat]

I would be "loyal" to the flint tropics my entire career if I was making $40 million per year.

[Moochthemonkey]

Good there needs to be more loyal guys like this is the league..it doesn't help small market teams that finally get lucky in the draft by selecting a star player then they act like Paul George and want to skip town

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That's actually hilarious bc 95% of the guys who are with diffenrt teams had no say in it. Yet fans only notice the 1 or 2 guys who leave and that's who needs to be more loyal?

*Edit:2 guys out of 64 so actually it's more like 97%

this sentiment really only applies to above average players. so in the 2010 draft class (not including late bloomers like Whiteside and Lin) you have Wall, Cousins, Hayward, George, and Bledsoe, and Bradley. 3 out of 5 of these players were traded not by request. Even so, Cousins and the Kings had a poor relationship, Bledsoe was playing behind Chris Paul, and the Celtics needed to shell salary to sign Hayward (and Bradley is due for a big pay-day next offseason).

[uraverage]

I would be "loyal" to the flint tropics my entire career if I was making $40 million per year.

You are going to need to find a big bank for a check that big.

[tjxclusive]

This article is somewhat inaccurate.
35th overall Nemanja Bjelica was drafted by WAS but was traded on draft night to his current team T-wolves.
Also, the 40th overall pick Lance Stephenson was drafted by the Pacers, his current team even though he did play for other teams before too.

[ChokeFasncists]

That's pretty crazy.

[HotelVitale]

That's pretty crazy.

It is but it looks like a weird outlying year. Seems like most draft class have at least 5 guys that stay with their teams for 7+ years, just didn't work that way for different odd reasons in 2010.

[colaroaster]

sacrificed for the team by signing a super max contract i.e. melo

[imDatknicksTape]

ppl shame loyalty because the star player didn't nut-hug and join a super team
ppl shame choosing money over joining a super team.

IMO, I'm all about money. Winning a chip isn't guaranteed but money is. That's facts.

[Greenie]

ppl shame loyalty because the star player didn't nut-hug and join a super team
ppl shame choosing money over joining a super team.

IMO, I'm all about money. Winning a chip isn't guaranteed but money is. That's facts.

Especially when you have superteams(Cavs, Heat) and supadupateams(Warriors) forming. Cash those checks boys. Cash those checks.

[We Are Groot]

Good there needs to be more loyal guys like this is the league..it doesn't help small market teams that finally get lucky in the draft by selecting a star player then they act like Paul George and want to skip town[/url]

Thing is most of the guys got traded. Aside from that, is there any onus on the teams to show "loyalty"? It's been well documented here that Hayward was not offered a max extension; when they couldn't agree to terms he got the QO, became a RFA and UTA matched an offer sheet. Boogie and PG were traded from badly run teams. Bradley would have left BOS next summer bc, they won't be able to offer him a market value contract.

So you're saying all these guys should show loyalty by signing with the team that drafted them regardless of the situation? Surely, you can understand Hayward felt undervalued in UTA and PG did Indy a favor by letting them know he wasn't going to re-sign so they could get some value for him before he left (unlike Durant in OKC). There is so much more context and nuance going on in all of these situations individually to just throw some blanket statement out there like "these guys should be loyal to the team that drafted them."

Maybe you should go back to the first company that gave you a job and work for whatever terms they decide to show us all what loyalty is all about. Kina sounds like a dumb idea huh?

[FNQ]

Lance Stephenson?

[YoungTrece]

That's a good point but the Paul George situation is nothing like you described...he was offered a full max and went out of his way to screw his current employer

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[HySquared]

Kudos to John Wall, an amazing and rare feat.