Five-time NBA All-Star John Wall has become the president of basketball operations at Howard, returning to Washington to partner with the top-ranked HBCU in the country, school officials told ESPN.
Wall played for the Washington Wizards from 2010 to ’20 after being the franchise’s No. 1 overall pick out of Kentucky. For Wall, the idea to partner with Howard began on Jan. 31, when he served as the team’s honorary captain of the day and expressed to the school a desire to be a president of basketball operations at the NBA level one day.
Wall has already taken a hands-on approach to the role at Howard, playing an active role in team meetings and evaluations of recruits and transfer targets. He has helped shape the program’s overall strategic vision with focus on roster management, name, image and likeness deals, revenue sharing, agent negotiations and player mentorship. He will work alongside Howard coach Kenny Blakeney and team general manager Daniel Marks in the new capacity.
Howard is one of only five mid-major programs out of 222 (from traditional one-bid leagues) to make the NCAA tournament in three of the past four seasons. This year, the program won the first tournament game in school history, over UMBC.
Wall retired in August, finishing his NBA career with averages of 18.7 points and 8.9 assists per game.
Wall spent most of his career with the Wizards but also played for the Houston Rockets and LA Clippers. In his best season, he averaged 23.1 points and 10.7 assists for the Wizards in 2016-17 and was named All-NBA third team.
He was one of the fastest, most athletic point guards during his prime — he was the 2014 slam dunk champion. He was also an elite defender, making the All-Defensive second team in 2015.
Injuries plagued the second half of his career. He never played more than half the games in any of the past six seasons, and he didn’t play the past two years.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry accepted a role with his alma mater Davidson College as an assistant general manager for the basketball programs last year, becoming the first active player in U.S. major professional sports to take an administrative job with an NCAA team. In his role, Curry, who played three seasons at Davidson (2006-09), provides guidance to the men’s and women’s teams based on his college and professional experience.
Oklahoma previously hired former Sooners player and current Wizards star Trae Young as assistant general manager for men’s basketball last year as well. He also has pledged to donate $1 million to the program.
