20 NBA Hall-of-Fame careers that were cut short by injury

NBA Hall-of-Fame career cut short: John Wall

John Wall entered the NBA as the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, the headliner in a Kentucky Wildcats freshman class that saw five players go in the first round of the NBA Draft. Wall was a cheetah on the basketball court, accelerating faster than any of his peers and flying in for highlight dunks or smooth corner passes.

Wall averaged 16.4 points per game and 8.3 assists as a rookie, and for the next decade combined prolific scoring with elite-level passing. He wasn’t afraid of the big moments, either, turning in a number of big-time playoff performances. He didn’t have the elite control of the game like Chris Paul or Steve Nash, but he was in that next group of elite point guards with a long career ahead of him.

Yet slowly but surely, injuries began to keep that dream at arm’s length. A knee injury caused him to miss the start of the 2012-13 season, then in 2016, he had off-season surgery on both knees. In 2017, after signing the new “supermax” extension, Wall’s injury issues accelerated. He played in just 41 games in 2017-18, 32 the following season, and missed all of 2019-20 after rupturing his Achilles.

Wall’s career is still ongoing, but his chances of adding anything of relevancy to his Hall of Fame resume seem bleak. For his career, Wall made five All-Star games, one All-NBA team and one All-Defense team. After losing multiple seasons and much of his athleticism to injuries, it seems like Wall’s future lies outside of the halls of NBA famedom.