Legendary NBA reporter and television personality David Aldridge had some high praise for former NBA player John Wall. Aldridge’s caption raved about Wall’s basketball prowess above a video of an interview with Wall and Taylor Rooks in which they quizzed the former NBA star on which colleges various players attended.
“I’m’a say this again: John Wall is a basketball savant. Dude watches EVERYBODY: high schools, AAU, colleges, NBA, WNBA, men, women. Wants to be a GM. Can break a game down both to hoop heads and casuals. Will be great on TV with reps.”
John Wall Appreciates David Aldridge Calling Him Basketball Savant
Wall, who was a college phenom at Kentucky and then starred in the NBA, left a lasting legacy on the game and expressed his appreciation for Aldrige’s analysis. Wall was a five-time NBA All-Star during his career, playing for the Washington Wizards, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Clippers before injuries ended his run.
“Appreciate that a lot my guy…Super positive/motivation coming from you ,” Wall responded in the comments.
Wall was selected as the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft and at his peak he was a Top 10 player in the game, earning All-Star selections from 2014 to 2018, with his most memorable season coming in 2016-17 when he averaged 23.1 points and 10.7 assists per game.
Fans Want John Wall To Return To Kentucky As General Manager
Kentucky alumni were all in the comments requesting that Wall put his savant basketball mind to work as the school’s new general manager. Kentucky hasn’t been the recruiting force it was when Wall was dancing and prancing on dudes, making Rupp Arena his personal playground from 2009-2010.
“Open GM spot at Kentucky btw. Come back home!” one fan said.
“@JohnWall please come be the GM at your alma mater,” begged another.
“Can you please come be GM at Kentucky @JohnWall? #bbn loves you and needs your help,” a third fan pleaded.
“Come be the GM for UK, John, you brought the swagger back once, you can do it again!!!” one netizen said on X.
“come back to Kentucky. we obviously need help,” another agreed. “@KentuckyMBB and @CoachMarkPope make him the GM!”
It’s clear that the Kentucky community wants Wall back in the mix and aren’t happy with the current state of affairs.
Kentucky Wildcats Prepare For March Madness After Subpar Season
Kentucky Wildcats were an unspectacular 21-13 under second-year head coach Mark Pope, finishing seventh in the SEC and earning a No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region.
Their NCAA Tourney path will start in St. Louis, taking on No. 10 seed Santa Clara (26-8) in the opening round on Friday. If the Cats prevail, they’ll face the winner of No. 2 seed Iowa State and No. 15 seed Tennessee State. A path to the Elite Eight will be difficult as Kentucky would have to potentially defeat No. 3 seed Virginia or No. 6 seed Tennessee.
There’s Always Haters
There were those fans who didn’t think a video of Wall knowing what colleges that various NBA players attended means he can handle the responsibilities of general manager or possesses the depth of knowledge that Aldridge claims.
“he’s naming where people went to school, this is not basketball knowledge lol,” one unimpressed fan said.
“Many people can memorize the colleges of NBA players, but that does not qualify them to be a NBA GM,” a second fan noted.
“Savant gets used way too much in professional sports. Writers should just say player x is one of the smarter/more aware players in the league” suggested one netizen on X.
“I could name more when I was in high school,” whined another netizen.
“This just honestly seems like average to decent if we were doing nba trivia night,” one fan commented.
To which another fan replied, “lol ok DA, I could do this dating back 20 years, doesn’t mean I could be a GM.”
Fans Call For More John Wall TV Time
Overall, the love Wall is getting in retirement is vastly improved from the coverage he received as a player. The North Carolina product is involved in his community and still has that passion burning to carve out a second career in hoops.
“@JohnWall needs to be on some of this march madness coverage,” a hoops fan commented on social media, as the biggest event in college sports gets underway this week.
According to Aldridge, a respected reporter for nearly 30 years, Wall will make noise in some capacity in the very near future.
RELATED: TSL Sports Talk- David Aldridge
With a career spanning a plethora of outlets on every platform of media known to man, from The Washington Post, ESPN, to TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” Aldridge started as a local beat reporter and built a Hall of Fame worthy career in journalism as a prominent NBA voice.
