After a stellar 2016-17 campaign for John Wall, and his Washington Wizards being just one victory away from a Conference Finals berth, a lot is at stake for them this offseason. GM Ernie Grunfeld and the rest of the Wizards front office know that Wall is the franchise’s backbone currently and they hope that can remain the same for years to come.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Wizards have offered their floor general a 4 year super max contract extension in the ballpark of $170M:
The Washington Wizards have offered John Wall a four-year contract extension for roughly $170 million but Wall will take some time to consider the offer, sources told ESPN.
The contract offer, known as “the supermax” as part of the new collective bargaining agreement, is possible because Wall made the All-NBA team this past season.
While Wall is still under contract through this offseason, the Wizards hope to hammer out an agreement before his deal expires. Wall is certainly more than worthy of the super-max and his output has backed that up as he continues to only get better.
Though Washington is eager to lock up the Kentucky product, Wall isn’t as certain about putting pen to paper this offseason and instead wants to wait to see what moves Washington makes this summer before committing to a long-term deal. Following from Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post:
“I just want to kind of see what they do throughout free agency, talk to my family, talk to my agency and my managers and see what we want to do,” Wall told The Washington Post after walking the red carpet Monday night. “It’s definitely a place I want to be … I’ve just got to make sure things are going in the right direction, and make sure we are building the team in the way we want to be, and don’t get locked up in a situation where you might not feel comfortable.
“But I love being in Washington, I love playing there, and there’s not another city I’d really want to play for.”
It’s no secret to Wall and others that the Wizards aren’t far from being true title contenders. The 26-year-old has been trying to play his part in bringing talent into Washington and has most recently tried to facilitate a trade that lands them star forward Paul George.
A player of George’s caliber or another star-level piece could be what takes Washington to the next level and convinces their franchise point guard to remain in the nation’s capital for the foreseeable future.
