Radio BOSS Conversations: John Wall

Darkest place I’ve ever been in. At one point and time, I thought about committing suicide. Tearing my Achilles, my mom being sick, my mom passing, my grandma passing a year later. All in the midst of COVID at the same time. Looking at all that, I’m like, if I can get through this, I can get through anything. There’s a time where I had to go find a therapist.

John Wall on what the last two and a half years have been like for him.

Even five-time NBA All-Stars need a shoulder to lean on. The last two and a half years for Raleigh native and new Los Angeles Clippers point guard John Wall have been difficult. He was averaging 20.7 points and 8.7 assists per game with the Washington Wizards during the 2018-19 season before an Achilles injury shut him down for the season. But that was just the beginning of his difficulties. A slip and fall at this home further exacerbated the injury. His mother, Ms. Frances Pully, passed away in December 2019. His grandmother passed a year later. He missed the entire 2019-20 season. And the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help matters. He was traded to the Houston Rockets in December 2020 and played in only 40 games, still averaging 20.6 points per game. He and the Rockets mutually agreed that he would not play the 2021-22 season as the Rockets were in rebuilding mode. But with Wall signing with the Clippers and with a healthy Kawhi Leonard and Paul George coming back, the Clippers are poised to make a run. Wall is looking forward to the challenge. He sat down with the Radio BOSS at The Salvation Army of Wake County in Raleigh, NC to talk about his mother and what she meant to him and the Raleigh community, making it through those two and a half years, what the Washington, DC area means to him, what Raleigh means to him, and about giving back to his community and children. Download or listen.

Tagged as: Donal Ware, NBA, DMV, Washington, Raleigh, John Wall, Salvation Army of Wake County, Washington Wizards, Frances Pulley, suicide, therapy, Los Angeles Cliipers, Russell Westbrook, Houston Rockets, All-Star, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, community, children, youth.