John Wall opens up about recent mental health struggles: "I thought about committing suicide"
Former Kentucky superstar John Wall has had a rough string of injury luck in recent years, playing just 72 games since his last All-Star season with the Washington Wizards in 2017-18. He suffered a season-ending left heel injury in December of 2018, then ruptured his left Achilles tendon, a string of injuries that kept him out 12 months. This was coming off a four-year, $171 million supermax contract extension that guaranteed him $207 million including the final two years of his rookie extension.
A few short years later, he was bought out by the Houston Rockets — still paid $47.4 million in contract guarantees, but to do so playing elsewhere — and signed a two-year, $13.2 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
In that stretch, he lost his mother to cancer, then his grandmother a year later.
His fall from stardom in the league combined with devastating losses in the family led to serious mental health struggles for Wall. In fact, the former Wildcat admits he contemplated suicide at that point in his life.
“The darkest place I’ve ever been in,” Wall said of his life the past two to three years in a recent interview. “At one point, I thought about committing suicide. Between tearing my Achilles, my mom being sick, my mom passing, my grandma passing a year later, all of this in the midst of COVID. Me going to chemotherapy, sitting by my mom taking her last breaths wearing the same clothes for three days straight right beside her.”
Wall, 31, says he’s used that stretch as inspiration going into the next stretch of his basketball career. He got through tragedy very few have to go through in such a short period of time. If he could make it through that, what’s stopping him from not just surviving, but thriving from this point forward?
“Looking at all that, I said, ‘If I can get through this, I can get through anything in life,'” he said. “I don’t like to brag about it, because everybody goes through something, we all go through tough times. Nobody has it easy. But I don’t think a lot of people have gone through what I went through. For me to be back on top where I want to be, seeing the fans still want me to play, support from my hometown — just support period, it means a lot.”
He hasn’t done it alone, either, with Wall adding that he needed therapy to help him push through his darkest times. Everyone is on their own path and heals differently, but he encourages people to find what works best for them if they’re dealing with similar struggles.
“I had to go find a therapist,” he said. “A lot of people think they don’t need help, they can get through things, but you’ve got to be true to yourself and find what’s best for you. I did that.”
The former Wildcat has averaged 19.1 points, 9.1 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 10 active seasons as a pro, earning five consecutive All-Star appearances between 2013-2018.
How are things going now? According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Wall has “looked sharp in offseason workouts and appears poised to be a contributor” for the Clippers in 2022-23.
“Speaking of Wall: I’m told by a spy or two who has seen him working out in Miami that the former All-Star guard, who sat out all of last season until the Rockets finally came to terms with him a buyout in July, has looked sharp in offseason workouts and appears poised to be a contributor for the Clippers,” Stein said.
During his time at Kentucky in 2009-10, Wall averaged 16.6 points, 6.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds, earning consensus First-Team All-America and SEC Player of the Year honors as a freshman.
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