With Kevin Porter Jr. serving as the point guard of the future, the Rockets could potentially try to move on from John Wall this offseason, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic in a piece co-authored by Kelly Iko.
The question, per Hollinger, is how much do other teams value Wall?
Wall is coming off a fairly strong season with the Rockets, appearing in 40 games before going down with an injury. But the Rockets are clearly in rebuild mode, with Porter considered a major part of their future.
“Overall, he’s probably between 20th and 35th in the point guard hierarchy right now — a starter in a pinch, especially on a team like the current Rockets squad, but more likely a plus backup on a good team,” Hollinger wrote.
“I have to assume, then, that most teams looking at acquiring him see him in that vein and value him accordingly.”
Iko added that Wall’s continued injury history are also reason for concern.
“But if he’s consistently unavailable, how does that impact Porter?” Iko asked.
Wall, 30, is owed $90 million over the next two seasons, which of course would make a trade difficult.
All of that said, there is no sense that the Rockets want to move on from Wall. At least not at the moment. They will have great odds in the draft lottery, and should end up with another young player with upside to join the likes of Porter, Christian Wood, Jae’Sean Tate and, yes, Wall.
But a shakeup could be on the way for the Rockets in an effort to take the next steps, and if a taker is found, they may indeed consider moving on — or trying to move on — from their veteran point guard.
