While John Wall and Kyrie Irving are both the cream of the crop as far as Eastern Conference point guards are concerned, their current situations could not be more different. Wall just put pen to paper on a mega-extension that keeps him in the nation’s capital for at least another handful of years while Irving on the other hand recently voiced his displeasure towards playing second fiddle to LeBron James in Cleveland.
While Wall has his own team in the Wizards and Kyrie is still looking for somewhere he can be a franchise backbone, Irving has a championship under his belt while the former does not. It’s a give and take and a lot of times, players of Irving and Wall’s caliber either are the star of a middling team or play sidekick and rack up winning seasons.
However, these two could both have the requisite talent to be the man on a championship caliber team, something John Wall is inching towards with the Wizards and exactly what Kyrie Irving is looking to do once he is dealt. When asked about Irving’s discontent in Cleveland, Wall said he was surprised by it and thinks he himself would be happy if he had made three straight Finals trips like Irving has. Following from Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic:
“That was crazy to me. I didn’t know that was happening at all. Well, too bad,” Wall said of the timing. “It’s kinda tough. If I had been to three straight [NBA] Finals, I’d want to stay but you never know what type of relationship or what type of details they have going on the backside. Nobody knows what’s going on behind closed doors. He’s one of those guys who wants to be the main guy.
“It’s a different situation when you’re playing with a guy like LeBron James who is so dominant. Everyone is always going to be the second guy to him. It’s kind of like what I tell all the young guys when they first come into the league. It’s kind of tough to get the young guys to play as one on the floor because everybody is trying to build their name up and start their own foundation. It’s kind of tough when you’re always in the shadow of somebody else. That’s something he probably got tired of.”
John Wall is more than aware that the way this Irving situation plays out will directly affect his team. Since they stepped in the league, the two have been compared but it’ll be interesting to see Irving’s success levels once he is handed the reigns as the top dog somewhere.
Wall understands Irving’s frustration though as should most people. Playing for championships year in and year out is obviously what you want but there is nothing wrong about wanting to have your own team either.
If Kyrie stays put with the Cavs, look for the two explosive guards to battle it out again all year and potentially in the Conference Finals.
