Report: John Wall, Adidas Negotiating Buyout with over 3 Years Left on Contract
Adidas and Washington Wizards point guard John Wall are reportedly negotiating a buyout just two years into his five-year endorsement deal with the company, according to Nick DePaula of ESPN.
Wall signed the deal in January 2018 and has dealt with a variety of injuries since, "limiting his on-court visibility while wearing the brand's products."
That has included missing the 2018 All-Star Game—"when he was expected to help headline the brand's Crazy BYW X sneaker in Los Angeles"—half of last season with an Achilles injury and likely all of the 2019-20 season when he tore the Achilles in February.
It's the latest chapter in what has been something of a sneaker saga for Wall, who left Adidas initially in 2015 and promptly spent two seasons as a sneaker free agent. He returned to the company in January 2018 for nearly $25 million over five years.
The 29-year-old averaged 19.0 points, 9.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from three over nine seasons with Washington. The five-time All-Star didn't look particularly sharp during the 2018-19 season, when he shot just 30.2 percent from three.
As ESPN's Zach Lowe wrote in November 2018:
"Perhaps age and knee surgeries have chipped away at Wall's speed. The Wizards have long been concerned about his conditioning. The same issues have infected his defense. Three years ago, Wall made a deserving appearance on the league's second All-Defense team. We have not seen much of that player since. ... Wall is a lot like Russell Westbrook: Explosive, lacking a reliable jumper, with a bad habit of turning into a statue off the ball. Westbrook is just way better."
Wall will make $38.2 million this season, $41.2 million next and $44.3 million in the 2021-22 campaign, and he holds a $47.4 million player option that he will surely exercise in the 2022-23 season.
Bottom line: he's untradeable.
