Can the Lakers steal John Wall from Clippers?

After being bought out by the Houston Rockets, John Wall is reportedly going to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers. Can the Lakers find a way to sign him?

On Monday, June 26, Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes reported that John Wall and the Houston Rockets reached an agreement on a contract buyout, making the guard an unrestricted free agent. That obviously made for quite the news, with fans speculating just where he would sign.

That speculation did stop briefly after a few minutes, as ESPN senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Wall is planning to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers once he clears waivers.

Surely that would rule out the Lakers from signing Wall this offseason, right?

Could the Lakers steal John Wall away from Clippers

Wojnarowski followed up in an additional tweet, saying that there are other teams that are calling Wall to pursue him in free agency, but his intention is to sign with the Clippers.

So you’re telling Lakers fans that there is a chance? The only thing they can really do is wait for Wall to clear waiver and wait for the confirmation report to see where he will ultimately choose to sign for the 2022-23 season.

The Lakers were linked to another high-profile guard this offseason, and that was Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets. Irving reportedly listed the Lakers as a destination in a potential sign-and-trade deals. Wojnarowski listed the Lakers as the only one of those teams that wanted to pursue a deal, but the Nets were not interested in any of the packages offered by them.

Irving picked up his option for the upcoming season and will return to the Nets.

Wall picked up his $47.4 player option for the upcoming season, and is expected to give back $7 million in salary, per Haynes. He did not play for the entirety this past season.

In his last logged season (2020-21), Wall averaged 20.6 points, 6.9 assists, and 3.2 rebounds while shooting 40.4-percent from the field and 31.7-percent from the three-point line.