John Wall says winning a ring ‘not everything,’ wants legacy with Wizards

Washington Wizards star John Wall said he does not want to “chase a ring” like other NBA superstars do by changing teams, emphasizing that he is loyal to the team that drafted him.

In an interview with The Athletic, Wall made it clear that he would rather be loyal to the Wizards than to jump ship for better odds of winning a championship.

“Never will you hear me ask for a trade. The only way I’m going to get traded from D.C. is if they want to trade me themselves,” Wall said. “And that’s one thing I think the fans will appreciate if they ever get to that point. I’m never one of those guys that want to chase a ring or do those things. I’ve told people this before. You win a ring; nobody is going to talk about that years down the road. But if you build a legacy in a place, that’s going to go on for a long time.”

Wall claimed he has an “old-school mindset” that isn’t shared by modern NBA stars, saying if he played in the Michael Jordan era and lost to Jordan four years in a row, he wouldn’t try to join the Bulls.

He also took pride in the fact that he is the only player from the 2009 NBA draft class who is still with the team that selected him.

“I’d rather build my legacy here than to get a ring,” Wall said. “I want a ring for the city, trust me. It’s great to have an NBA championship. I go back to Kentucky. I don’t have a national championship, but my résumé is bigger than anyone else that’s been there since I left.

“Know what I mean? Winning a ring is not everything. It’s great. It’s not everything.”

Wall will miss much of the 2019-20 season, if not the whole year, as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered in January. He feels Wizards ownership and new general manager Tommy Sheppard are behind him, but said he wouldn’t “like it” or “respect it” if Washington traded him before he got a chance to prove himself again post-injury.

Wall also praised Bradley Beal, pointing out that in an era where teams are pursuing “dynamic duos” of superstars rather than “big threes,” Washington already has two star-caliber players on the payroll.

“I feel like we need one more shot. We need one more run at it,” Wall said. “But we’ve got to add some pieces around us, some dogs that can go to war with us. I mean, me and [Beal] together, we can go against anybody.”