John Wall trade rumors: 5 potential destinations for Wizards guard

John Wall trade rumors are swirling, but which NBA teams might actually trade for him?

First things first: No, this isn’t the Russell Westbrook trades list, in case you understandably got your wires crossed. That list is here, but we can forgive the confusion; there are more than a few parallels between these two once-dynamic point guards who now found themselves unwanted by their respective teams.

To be fair, the Washington Wizards — to this point, at least — haven’t been as forthcoming about their complete embracing of a trade for John Wall as the Houston Rockets clearly are about shopping Russell Westbrook.

Like Russ, however, it appears as though Wall has had enough and wants out, as The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Friday night:

Given the remaining three years and $132.9 million on his contract, it’d be shocking if the Wizards weren’t willing to move him rather than cling to the Wall-Bradley Beal dreams of yesteryear(s). Washington has been stubborn about holding onto Beal and building around him, but there’s a reason for it: He’s younger, healthier, on a far more sensible mega-deal and is a better player now than Wall was at his best.

Which brings us back to Westbrook, a similarly depreciating commodity who finds himself on the trade market with an eerily similar list of teams that would make sense as potential trade suitors. Wall is as close to two peas in a pod with Russ as you can get because of the ugly contract, worrisome injury history, waning athleticism upon which much of his game relies and his complete lack of a jump shot.

Russ compounds those issues by still playing like he’s Option A, but at least he played last season. Or the season before, when Wall missed 50 games. Or the season before, when Wall missed another 41 games. The last time John Wall started a season in which he would go on to play at least 70 games, Donald Trump hadn’t been elected president yet. Let that sink in.

Even so, John Wall trade rumors lead us here, trying to come up with deals that might actually make sense. Oftentimes, this exercise is futile — the final trade is never quite what anyone drew up, fairness goes out the window as teams get fleeced or do the fleecing, and when it comes to trades involving former stars who are probably washed up and definitely overpaid, nobody’s ever happy.

So, with a (hopefully) open mind and kind heart, please enjoy these five John Wall trade scenarios that will likely just piss a bunch of people off.