While appearing on ESPN Tuesday, John Wall was asked about a tweet his teammate Marcin Gortat wrote last week, and apparently, the point guard took it personally.
“SC6” host Michael Smith interviewed the injured Wall and asked him what he thought of an apparently sarcastic comment Gortat wrote, calling the Washington Wizards’ Feb. 1 win over Toronto without Wall a great “team” victory.
“It was more just shock to hear it from him, understanding he gets the most assists from me and the most spoon-fed baskets ever,” Wall said.
Unbelievable win tonight ! Great “team” victory!
— Marcin Gortat🇵🇱 (@MGortat) February 2, 2018
The Wizards won their first five games after Wall had to have knee surgery, including against the Raptors on Feb. 1, when eight Wizards players scored in double figures in a 122-119 win.
NBA Advanced Stats found Wall’s comment about Gortat’s scoring tendencies to be true in this sense: 28.7 percent of the Polish center’s points this year came off assists from Wall, the highest percentage of anyone on the team.
It was reported yesterday (before this interview) that Washington was interested in trading Gortat.
For what it’s worth, Gortat told reporters Tuesday that that tweet was not meant to be a sarcastic jab about the team’s success in Wall’s absence, and that he thought he had cleared it up privately with Wall already.
“He felt it was a different way and he came back with that kind of comment,” Gortat said. “So, now we got to ask each other questions who’s attacking who?”
In the midst of the melodrama, the Wizards’ winning streak was snapped when they lost 115-102 in Philadelphia. They return home to face the Boston Celtics on Thursday.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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