John Wall hasn’t played all of this season despite being healthy, and is an NBA commissioner Adam Silver believe it’s a problem for the league.
Silver was asked during his All-Star Game press conference on Saturday about Wall and other players being paid to sit out. He immediately replied “of course I think that’s a problem” and explained why both players and teams must be bothered by this trend.
“There is a tough line there,” Silver said. “If it is really a matter of mutual agreement, I am not sure the federation office should intervene. On the other hand, this goes back to my pay-for-performance point from earlier. … For every dollar that goes to a non-producing player on the floor, that’s a dollar less for a player performing. It’s not ideal for either player or team. Do I have a fix ready? I hope those are issues that we can approach collectively when we sit down with the players. “
Wall is making $44.3 million this season and plans to make $47.3 million next season. The Houston Rockets focus on their young core, so they feel they have no place for Wall. At least two teams are said to be interested if Wall and Rockets reach an acquisition agreement, but it looks like the two are doing one.
Just as Silver doesn’t like players sitting out for “maintenance,” he doesn’t want a healthy player making $500,000 per bench. As he said, the problem will be figuring out how to stop the practice.
