Persistent knee trouble throughout the year will now lead to Washington Wizards point guard John Wall missing an extended amount of time. Wall, who dealt with knee soreness in November and started feeling it again last week, will undergo a 'clean up' procedure on his left knee and miss the next six-to-eight weeks. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported the news on Tuesday.
It serves as a massive blow for a Wizards' squad that currently sits sixth in the Eastern Conference and lost six of their past 10 games. A team many expected to finish with a top-four record in the conference, Washington will now have to try and stay afloat without the services of its All Star point guard.
The 27-year-old point guard averaged 34.2 minutes per game this year and continued to post strong numbers, though short of his numbers from the past three seasons. Across 37 games, Wall averages 19.4 points, 9.3 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.1 blocks and 3.6 rebounds per game.
On the court he remains the same player for the most part, though he is attempting two fewer shots per game this season and his field goal percentage is down from 45.1 percent in 2016-'17 to 41.7 percent this season. However, we started to see Wall return to top form in January with averages of 21.9 points and 10.5 assists in 11 games this month.
In Wall's absence, Tim Frazier and Tomas Satoransky figure to split up Wall's minutes at point guard. In one start this year, Satoransky scored 11 points and dished out seven assists in 21 minutes.
Frazier, 27, experienced far less success in his time as a starter this season. In 11 starts, Frazier averaged 5.4 points, 4.2 assists and 1.2 turnovers per game. He does offer more experience starting that Satoransky, but Satoransky drew the most recent start when Wall missed time this weekend. If you're going to pick one of the two players up in free agency, choose Satoransky.
The biggest fantasy beneficiary from this news is shooting guard Bradley Beal. Without Wall on the court this season, Beal averaged 26 points and 4.6 assists per game with a 33.7 usage percentage compared to 22.8 points and a 26.2 usage percentage with Wall on the court, per NBC's Michael Gallagher.
Beal, who rates 25th on ESPN's player rater this season, should now become a top-20 player for the next two months with Wall out. He'll be a DFS play to target regularly given his scoring upside.
Markieff Morris and Otto Porter Jr. also gain a bump in fantasy value given their usage percentages should also go up with Wall out.