John Wall

Johnathan Hildred Wall Jr. (born September 6, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Wall was born on September 6, 1990, to Frances Pulley and John Carroll Wall Sr. When he was a year old, his father, who had previously served time in prison for second-degree murder, was convicted of armed robbery.

Wall Sr. was released from prison on August 24, 1999, but died of liver cancer a month later at age 52.

On the heels of his second sophomore year of high school, in the summer of 2007, Wall was invited to the prestigious Reebok All-American Camp in Philadelphia; there, he distinguished himself by scoring 28 points against a team that featured future lottery pick Brandon Jennings.

In 2008, Wall played in the Elite 24 Hoops Classic, at which he scored 10 points and won co-MVP honors alongside Dominic Cheek, Maalik Wayns, and Lance Stephenson.

As a fifth-year senior in 2009, Wall averaged 19.7 points, nine assists, and over eight rebounds for Word of God Christian Academy and was ranked one of the best high school basketball players in the class of that year.

He led the Holy Rams basketball team all the way to the North Carolina Class 1A state championship; they were ultimately defeated by United Faith Christian Academy 56–53.

Wall scored 11 points in the contest.

He was selected to participate in the 2009 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon; he scored 13 points to go along with 11 assists and five steals at the high-profile event.

He was also selected to play in the Jordan Brand Classic that year at Madison Square Garden, where he notched six assists.

Originally recruited by the University of Kentucky, Duke University, Georgia Tech, and University of Kansas, Wall announced his commitment to attend the University of Kentucky on May 19, 2009.

He was suspended by the NCAA from Kentucky's first exhibition game and first regular season game for travel benefits he received from his AAU coach Brian Clifton, a certified agent at the time.

In his first action as a Wildcat, in an exhibition game against Clarion University of Pennsylvania, the freshman point guard led his team to victory with 27 points and nine assists in 28 minutes of playing time.

In his collegiate debut at Kentucky versus Miami University, Wall made the game-winning shot with .5 seconds left on the clock to help then #5 ranked Kentucky win.

He finished with 19 points, two rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

On December 29, 2009, against Hartford, Wall set the Kentucky single-game assist record with 16, 11 in the first half, with only one turnover.

Because Wall was a fifth-year high school senior in 2009 and would turn 19 by the end of the year, some sources argued that he would be eligible for the 2009 NBA draft.

League rules stated that American players must turn 19 during the year of the draft and be a year removed from their regular high school class.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank told sportswriter Chad Ford that the league was not sure whether Wall met the second criterion, and that league officials would need to "do [their] due diligence to determine his eligibility".

Wall announced in April 2009 that he was not entering the 2009 NBA draft, where he was expected to be the first player taken, and would attend Kentucky instead.

A Raleigh, North Carolina native, Wall was chosen with the first overall pick of the 2010 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards after playing one year of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats.

On April 7, 2010, Wall announced that he would forgo his final three seasons of collegiate eligibility and enter the 2010 NBA draft, where he was expected to be the first overall selection for the Washington Wizards.

On May 3, Wall signed with agent Dan Fegan.

Wall, who plays the point guard position, was a five-time NBA All-Star from 2014 to 2018 and was named to the All-NBA Team in 2017.

The mark was previously held by Travis Ford, at 15, and was broken on Ford's 40th birthday.

Wall scored nine points, failing to break double digits for the first time in his college career.

On September 22, 2017, Wall was inducted into the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame.

Wall's older half-brother, John Carroll Wall Jr., promised at their father's funeral to take care of the family, but was incarcerated the next year and released in 2018.

Throughout Wall's childhood, his mother worked multiple jobs to support him, his sister, Cierra, and his half-sister, Tonya.

The death of his father caused Wall to frequently reject the authority of adults and act up, occasionally fighting, mostly in middle school.

He was cited for breaking and entering as a teenager.

Wall played for two AAU basketball teams, first Garner Road and then D-One Sports.

Wall played his first two years of high school basketball at Garner Magnet High School in Garner, North Carolina.

After his second season, his family moved to Raleigh, where he repeated his sophomore year.

Despite having a very impressive tryout, Wall was cut from the school's varsity team for attitude-related issues.

For this reason, he transferred to Word of God Christian Academy, also in Raleigh.

It was there that Wall set about the reform of his attitude and related issues.

Coach Levi Beckwith worked with Wall, first to stop demeaning his teammates for missed layups, and later to improve his facial expressions and general demeanor.

However, he experienced multiple injuries in 2019 and missed more than two years of basketball before being traded to the Houston Rockets in December 2020.

After two seasons with the Rockets he joined the Clippers via free agency in the 2022 off-season before being dealt back to the Rockets with whom he reached a buyout in February 2023.