John Wall is among the many NBA players at the USA Basketball minicamp in Las Vegas this week. It’s a big camp for Wall, as he was cut from the national team before the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and was unable to play at the 2016 Olympics due to knee surgery. Now, with all eyes on the 2019 World Cup and the 2020 Olympics, Wall has a chance to suit up and be a key contributor for the red, white, and blue.
But before we get to that point, Wall must get through this minicamp, and, uh, hoo boy that might be tough. That’s not because Wall is bad at basketball — he is actually very good at basketball! — but rather, it’s because my guy looks like he’s riding the struggle bus. Here is a picture of Wall that was taken by USA Basketball.
What in the world happened to John Wall this summer… pic.twitter.com/Fm03yIjWfu
— Baseline Hoops (@baseline_hoops) July 26, 2018
The picture was tweeted out by the Wizards and eventually deleted, ostensibly because after it was put out for public consumption, Twitter did its thing. A bunch of people looking for retweets got their best jokes off to varying degrees of success over Washington’s disheveled and tired-looking point guard.
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) July 26, 2018
John Wall auditioning for Uncle Drew 2? https://t.co/bh53I20vmU
— Akis (@Aykis16) July 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/AnthonyIrwinLA/status/1022554596495974400
when listening to the "taught me how to be a Wizard" joke for the 1,004th time finally catapults you beyond the pale of sanity and into a sort of Quantum Brain Realm in which all you can think of is the pure light and warmth of the one true god that lives within all of us pic.twitter.com/y2iOafsRyl
— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) July 26, 2018
neil degrasse tyson: Sometimes I wonder whether the Universe can make something more complex than itself
me: pic.twitter.com/3cvVyMnIjI
— alex (@steven_lebron) July 26, 2018
this is the most i have ever liked john wall im a john wall fan now pic.twitter.com/8EIrENOECX
— whitney medworth (@its_whitney) July 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/thefarmerjones/status/1022555182310334464
i can hear this picture breathing https://t.co/ti97XdcXxj
— Seth Rosenthal (@seth_rosenthal) July 26, 2018
look idk what john wall was on this summer but lmk if you find it pic.twitter.com/EZC6ufft0L
— haley (@haleyosomething) July 26, 2018
This is the look of a man who asks if he could stay with you because his girl is trippin' again pic.twitter.com/4rgnmAUIb1
— Zito (@_Zeets) July 26, 2018
Somehow this looks like one of those merged faces photos with John Wall and Carmelo Anthony. pic.twitter.com/8ACid4Hn4U
— Phillip Barnett (@regularbarnett) July 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/KofieYeboah/status/1022554326626185216
https://twitter.com/Jade_Hoye/status/1022557336064479232
One explanation for what happened here is that John Wall is in Las Vegas, and when you go to Las Vegas, you end up looking like this every now and then. However, it’s far more likely that Wall just took an awkward looking picture, because in a few videos tweeted out after the imagine hit the internet, Wall looked fine going through warmups and scrimmaging.
.@JohnWall getting loose 🇺🇸#DCFamily #USABMNT https://t.co/K54wn9vrzJ
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) July 26, 2018
John Wall’s vision 👀#USABMNT pic.twitter.com/dDJ3doxgKP
— NBA (@NBA) July 26, 2018
Everyone has had a rough-looking picture or 40 in their day, so Wall just got caught on a bad day. Still, he’d probably be pretty stoked if the next headshot he takes like this happens after the World Cup or the Olympics while he’s wearing a gold medal.