Saturday Slam: The Washington Wizards are probably stuck with John Wall, at least for a while

                                         (Credit: Joe Robbins-Getty Images) 

On Saturday, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst both reported that Wizards point guard John Wall is set to undergo season-ending surgery on his left heel. Estimated recovery time is 6-8 months. At 14-23, the Wizards are already having a rough enough season as it is. With Wall now done for the season, their playoff hopes are dashed and their future suddenly becomes very murky.

Wizards star John Wall is planning to undergo season-ending surgery on his left heel, league sources tell @WindhorstESPN and me. Doctors have recommended that he undergo the surgery soon.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 29, 2018

What really adds to the complexity of all this is the fact that the Wizards inked Wall to a 4-year, $170M extension in the summer of 2017. Given that he played in just 41 games last season due to left knee troubles and is now set to play in only 32 games this year due to a left heel issue, it's fair to wonder whether or not the Wizards can count on Wall to be their franchise piece for the future.

The question that needs to be asked is where do the Wizards go from here? When healthy, Wall is one of the best point guards in the NBA, averaging 19.0 points, 9.2 assists, and 1.7 steals per game for his career. You definitely don't want to give up on a guy with that type of talent who is 28 years old. On the flip side, you don't want your future to be hampered by a guy who isn't playing up to the level expected of him.

Just to give you all a quick sense of what Wall's contract situation is, he is scheduled to make $37.8M this season, $40.824M in the 2020-21 season, $43.848M in the 2021-22 season, and $46.872M in the 2022-23 season, which is a year he has a player option, meaning he can opt out of his contract if he wants to. He doesn't actually hit unrestricted free agency until the summer of 2023, which is when the Wizards can let him walk away.

Given his contract, the Wizards are going to have a hard time trading Wall anytime soon. No team is going to want to take that on with him being so injury prone. There's not much the Wizards could get back for him at this stage, which means that it's probably in their best interest to ride this out and see what type of production he gives them over the next couple of seasons. If some team is willing to sell the farm to get him, the Wizards should pounce all over it, but I'm highly skeptical of any team taking such a gamble.

The bottom line is that the Wizards are probably stuck with John Wall. At least for a while anyways. The best they can hope for is that he gets healthy after this season and lives up to his contract, helping them become a true contender in the Eastern Conference. In the meantime, the Wizards should secretly be hoping to tank the rest of the season and get has high of a draft pick as possible. If they could get a really talented rookie to come in next year, maybe things will start to trend upwards for them again.

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Tomahawk Tuesday: The Sacramento Kings are finally on the rise

                                         (Credit: SactownRoyalty.com-Kimani Okearah) 

With a 16-14 record, the Sacramento Kings are in the mix for a playoff spot, playing their best basketball since the days of Mike Bibby, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, and Peja Stojakovic. For the last couple of years, we've been sensing a possible turnaround for this team, but now we can officially say that the Kings are on the rise and back to being a relevant team.

The reason for this turnaround is their combination of youth and depth. De'Aaron Fox (17.9 points & 7.3 assists), Buddy Hield (19.3 points & 5.0 rebounds), Willie Cauley-Stein (13.8 points & 8.2 rebounds), Marvin Bagley III (12.7 points & 6.1 rebounds), and Bogdan Bogdanovic (14.7 points) all form a very balanced scoring attack that can be difficult to guard. On top of that, they're all very young with Bogdanovic being the oldest of the bunch (2014 NBA Draft).

After years of ineptitude under the Maloof brothers, owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Vlade Divac are making smart decisions. They have a vision for this team and a strong sense of where they are heading. Head coach Dave Joerger is also doing a good job coaching this team, helping them grow and develop. This change in culture is exciting to see and the Sacramento faithful definitely deserve it.

They key for this young Kings team is to keep grinding and maintain a strong belief in what they can accomplish. De'Aaron Fox is blossoming into one of the best point guards in the NBA and he has the pieces around him to be successful. It's just a matter of them going through the maturation process that all up and coming teams have to go through.

I don't know if I see this team winning a playoff series this season or next, but it is definitely fun to have the Sacramento Kings relevant again. Those teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s proved that high level basketball can be played in California's capital. With some seasoning and growth, I don't doubt that the Kings will very soon return to that same level.

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Saturday Slam: The Chicago Bulls are a disaster

If the 6-23 Chicago Bulls thought firing Fred Hoiberg was going to solve their problems, they're in for a rude awakening. Since relieving Hoiberg of his head coaching duties and promoting Jim Boylen to head coach on December 3rd, the Bulls have already had their worst loss in franchise history, losing to the Boston Celtics by a final score of 133-77. To make matters even worse, their $40M man Jabari Parker, a Chicago native, is being shown the door as he has been put on the trading block and dropped from the rotation.

Given how things are going, it wouldn't be surprising to see Bulls players spontaneously combust on the court. Everything else appears to have gone wrong, so why not? They're clearly heading in the wrong direction and it's tough to envision things getting better for them anytime soon.

The only thing that the Bulls can take some comfort in is the return of second year power forward Lauri Markkanen and the stellar play of combo guard Zach LaVine, who is averaging 23.8 points per game. Both Markkanen and LaVine look like a legitimate duo to build around for the future, but it's the rest of the team that's a mess.

Personally, I'm puzzled of as to why they're already giving up on Parker. He's averaging 15.2 points per game and is one of the few guys they have that can create his own shot. I understand he's not the best defender in the world, but that said, he's still a very solid player. Even more puzzling is the way they've gone about handling this whole thing. Wanting to trade him in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing. What's bad is to drop him from the rotation, lower his trade value, and then seek a trading partner for him. If they were smart, which they clearly aren't, they would showcase his skills and try to up his value to get as much back for him as possible. Instead, they're potentially stuck with a two-year, $40M contract that they desperately want to get off their books.

The bottom line is that this Bulls team is a disaster and there's no easy solution to turning them around. Their general manager Gar Forman has his work cut out for him and if he doesn't figure out how to right the ship, he'll soon be looking for a new job. Sit tight Bulls fans, I'm afraid the bumpy ride has only begun.

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Tomahawk Tuesday: Can the Denver Nuggets weather the storm?

The Denver Nuggets have had a really impressive 18-9 start to the season and for the first time all year they are about to face some serious adversity. Last Friday at Charlotte, their star power forward Paul Millsap went down with fractured right big toe that is expected to sideline him for the next four-to-six weeks. Millsap has been averaging 13.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game, doing a little bit of everything for this Nuggets team. On top of his absence, the Nuggets are also dealing with the absence of their star shooting guard Gary Harris, Jr., who has been diagnosed with a strained right hip, keeping him out for the next three-to-four weeks. Harris is putting up 16.6 points per game, carrying a good chunk of their scoring load.

It would be bad enough if it was just Millsap and Harris that were out. But there's more: Will Barton is considered week-to-week with a sore hip; Isaiah Thomas is still out indefinitely as he recovers from right hip surgery; rookie small forward Jarred Vanderbilt is yet to play a game as he recovers from right foot surgery; and rookie small forward Michael Porter, Jr. is also yet to play a game due to back surgery.  Things have gotten so bad for the Nuggets that they've had to use their hardship exception to sign guard Nick Young to a non-guaranteed contract.

As good as the Nuggets have been playing, it's tough to see them staying afloat in such a tight Western Conference amid all of these injuries. The good news for them is they still have guard Jamal Murray (17.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.9 assists) and center Nikola Jokic (17.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 7.6 assists) healthy. Both of those guys are having fantastic seasons and are certainly capable of shouldering more of the load. The only question is how much of the load can they carry?

During the next three-to-four weeks, the fate of this promising Nuggets team will likely be decided given how competitive the Western Conference is. If Murray and Jokic can keep their team playing above .500 ball, odds are good they'll be able to gain some ground back in February and March. If on the flip side, they play below .500 ball, we're probably looking at a team that finishes 7th or 8th in the Western Conference with the possibility of missing the playoffs altogether.

The NBA can be a cruel world and the Denver Nuggets are finding that out right now. Hopefully for them they'll be able to weather the storm and keep themselves in contention. They've been one of the feel good stories of the league this year and it would be a real shame to see their season go down the tubes due to injury so early on.

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