John Wall Responded To Critiques Of Him Going Out From Stephen A. Smith And Fans


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The Washington Wizards are off to a miserable start to the 2018-19 season, sitting at 2-8 with plenty of locker room dysfunction. There are players chirping about who’s taking shots, a clear lack of communication on the court (a problem that is certainly not unique to this season), and just generally, no one on the team is playing particularly well.

Among those is All-Star point guard John Wall, who is averaging 21.5 points and 7.6 assists per game, but has taken a step back as a perimeter threat. While he’s averaging the most steals of his career at 3.3 per game, the team is struggling defensively when he’s on the floor. As the point guard, Wall ends up shouldering much of the blame in Washington for not helping to improve the play of his teammates on top of his own personal struggles at times.

Making matters worse is that Wall has a supermax extension that kicks in next season, which only further frustrates fans to what seems like play that is below that pay grade. No one has been more critical of Wall than ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who has regularly ripped into Wall and the Wizards on First Take and the Stephen A. Smith show on ESPN Radio.

On Thursday, Smith brought up how fans are questioning why Wall is out at Rosebar in D.C. while the Wizards are struggling as a problem for the star point guard in the way he’s being perceived in Washington.

Wall hopped on Instagram Live later that afternoon to address the “issue” and explain to fans that, no, he’s not in the gym 24 hours a day, and yes, he goes to Rosebar.

“I do!” Wall proclaimed. “I go to Rosebar on Saturdays. What? I’m not supposed to party in a blue while? The f*ck?”

Wall is far from the first player to get frustrated by the idea that because the team is struggling he shouldn’t be able to party — LeBron dealt with this a bit recently after going to Diddy’s party following a loss to the Raptors. Wall notes he just got done with practice and that he’s not going to always be in the gym and will live his life, while also putting in the work when he’s supposed to.

Social media and the constant updates on what athletes are doing in their lives has only exasperated the issue, as we see photos of them out and about enjoying the lifestyle they are afforded, either through their own channels or others, and inevitably it leads to criticism if the performance on the field or court isn’t where fans think it should be.

The Wizards problems aren’t that John Wall is out at Rosebar, it has to do with a locker room that’s combustable and fractured, guys not communicating well on either end of the floor, and flat out poor play from many of their top players, Wall included, but that almost assuredly isn’t the result of his visits to Rosebar.

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