Overview
Johnathan Hildred Wall Jr. (born September 6, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A Raleigh, North Carolina native, Wall was chosen with the first overall pick of the 2010 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards after playing one year of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. Wall, who plays the point guard position, was a five-time NBA All-Star from 2014 to 2018 and was named to the All-NBA Team in 2017. However, he experienced multiple injuries in 2019 and missed more than two years of basketball before being traded to the Houston Rockets in December 2020. After two seasons with the Rockets he joined the Clippers via free agency in the 2022 off-season before being dealt back to the Rockets with whom he reached a buyout in February 2023.
Early life
Wall was born on September 6, 1990, to Frances Pulley and John Carroll Wall Sr. When he was a year old, his father, who had previously served time in prison for second-degree murder, was convicted of armed robbery. Wall Sr. was released from prison on August 24, 1999, but died of liver cancer a month later at age 52. Wall's older half-brother, John Carroll Wall Jr., promised at their father's funeral to take care of the family, but was incarcerated the next year and released in 2018.
Throughout Wall's childhood, his mother worked multiple jobs to support him, his sister, Cierra, and his half-sister, Tonya.
The death of his father caused Wall to frequently reject the authority of adults and act up, occasionally fighting, mostly in middle school. He was cited for breaking and entering as a teenager.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).