NBA: “If it hadn't been for my two boys, I would have been screwed up”, John Wall, former Wizards point guard, looks back on his dark hours

John Wall clearly did not have the career he deserved. Leaving Kentucky, the leader was drafted by the Washington Wizards in 2010. In the capital, he experienced some struggling seasons before experiencing his first successes in the play-offs and signing a big, big contract (170M out of 4 in 2017).

But even with all this money, it was in this moment that the American leader's life almost turned upside down. Raised by his mother, John Wall saw her succumb to breast cancer in 2019. “I went to chemotherapy, and I sat next to her. I saw my mother take her last breath. I wore the same clothes for three days straight, lying on the couch sobbing,” he said in an interview with NBC. A year later, it was after the disappearance of his grandmother that he seriously considered ending his life.

“If it hadn’t been for my two boys, I would have been screwed. I put a gun to my head twice. At the time, many people close to me didn’t know it. I wanted to kill myself. But I told myself that if I left this earth, I would abandon my children. Who was going to raise them? I had to be there for them. There's a video that came out where I was making gang signs, and that's where I had my darkest days. I was trying to find a way to be happy.” admitted the veteran on The OGShow podcast.

But despite this dark period, his career is not yet over and he is certain to still have a place in the league currently, particularly with Miami. “I feel like I can help them a lot. And even if I didn't start the matches, I think I could be useful off the bench, help them, have an impact on the team,” he said.