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a basketball soant. The man just breaves it. He loves the sport, studies it, analyzes it. And in a minute, we'll be talking business, basketball, and broadcasting with five time NBA Allstar John Wall. You're in the Enterprise Zone at the NASDAQ. Hello, this is Jabar Young, senior writer at Forbes in NASDAQ for the Enterprise Zone. Thank you so much for joining. We got a special guest, John Wall. Fivetime NBA Allstar, played 11 seasons in the league, drafted first round, first pick 2010, played for teams including the Washington Wizards, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, and he earned over $250 million his career. So, I would say that's a pretty good career. John, thank you so
much for the time, man. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Super excited to be here. Yeah, man. It's the first time at the NASDAQ. Yeah, first time. Wow. All these years, man. It's your first time. Now you come to the garden back and forth and you first time at the NASDAQ. Yeah. And I was just talking to my boy. He's like, "I watch your show all the time. Watching him locked in." So he like, "Man, make sure you say what up to the guy for me." So I said, "What's up?"
Yeah. Well, I appreciate that, man. Well, listen, I appreciate you making a trip here in New York because uh you're celebrating season two with Amazon Prime. Get into all that stuff in a minute, but uh before we talk business and basketball and broadcasting, man, how's the family, man? How's your two sons, man? They doing great, man. They enjoying sports right now. You know, living in Florida, football is definitely number one. You got some track in there. And he got soccer, he got baseball. So, you know, I mean, we got our last game this Saturday in football. Then my youngest son, he probably make the playoffs. So, we super excited to see what can happen.
Yeah, I love that, man. I mean, listen, how is it being a dad, right? Because early in your career, and I was around for a little bit. I covered the Spurs for 5 years. You wasn't a dad then, right? But now here you are a dad, man. What's life like as a dad now? That's it's everything. Like everything I do now since I had my boys is for them. It's not for me. I think when we're younger and don't have kids, we living for ourselves and enjoying it. But when you start having kids, everything you do and preparing yourself for just trying to be a good person, a good role model, uh showing them what hard work and dedication is, not just pampering them and giving anything they want. That's what my ultimate goal
is. So me being present, not just giving them stuff, being present and showing them that I really care and know that's my world. Yeah. Love that, man. Love it. You follow the stock market at all? No, not really. But I'm trying to get into I tell you, my boy is trying to put me into it nowadays. So I'll be learning a little bit more slowly but shortly. Yeah. What are you looking into? Like what are you trying to learn about it? just everything like you know he looks at everything little detail like how it can go up one day can go down one day when you get in when it's low when it's high so just trying to
figure out those things and watch the numbers. Yeah. Do you have guys people around you investment managers or anything like that? Yeah, great team around me. Yeah, for sure you got to. I think most importantly and I'm glad you pic said that is a lot of us athletes we wait to get into investments when our career is almost over when we don't know what's going to happen next. I think now with so much technology and so much great things going on and great people and teams around that you should get into it a little early before you know when your career is going to end. When did you start to take it seriously?
Uh I started investing early on like my fifth year in the league. Like just having great people around me asking questions and having great mentors of older people that's been through the process of being in the league and understand it like one day basketball is going to stop bouncing. What do you want to do next and what can help what can you pivot to? Yeah. I tell you I learned that man and being in San Antonio. Uh Matt Bonner was down here, the great shooter Matt Bonner, man. One of the most frugal dudes I've ever met, man. But he kind of allowed me to understand like this
dude just like he wore flannel shirts. He only bought used cars. He really allowed me to understand like I'm putting my money aside, right? And that's the first time that I saw a guy really take his money and like not spend it at all. He was really serious about that. Yeah, man. He was really serious about that. But you know, listen, man. You know, 2026 is here. NBA season is right here, right now, man. And we were just talking off camera because both of us are Cowboys fans and Cowboys stink right now. But um what's been the music that's been getting you by this year, man? What's been the music motivating you and kind of keeping you creative in your postNBA career?
I don't know. Like my favorite artist right now is my brother Durk. So I listen to him, you know what I mean? You got to listen to guys like Gunner. Yeah. I mean, Future's one of those guy you still listen to. So that's what And I love my favorite artist all the time is Lil Wayne. So I go back and listen to the classics all the time. So that's the type of music that get me through just sitting there relaxing vibing listening in the car and just going through it. Yeah. Gonna was just here man. He makes great music. I tell you I love that man. But you walk into a third grade class John and some of them may know who you are right. They might
remember your career. They might be looking at the mixtape that came out years ago. Um but if they didn't know you and they said what is it that you do John right today here in 2026. What do you tell these group of third graders? Well one is I'm a broadcast studio analyst with Amazon Prime. You know, I mean, that's something that I never even thought was going to be my next phase of my career. I mean, they gave me opportunity to get on board last year and things went great and I'm super excited to get ready for season two. You know, I mean, October 23rd, next Friday, we open up two big games. You know, we got the defending champs, the New York Knicks playing the Boston Celtics, then
you got the Houston Rockets playing, San Antonio Spurs. So, just get into that field, understand that, I enjoy it. I get the opportunity to, like you said before, tell what I know about basketball, show my IQ, show my knowledge of the game, where kids went to college at, where kids went to high school at. Um, I have one of the best high school terms in the country. So, just being able to get into this space and get into that field, I would tell the kid that's what I'm doing. I'm doing that. I'm investing. But also, they'll probably find YouTube somewhere and see my high school mixtape at some point. We're in a different era, man. They going to immediately look up YouTube.
Everything is YouTube now. That's right, man. All the time. And you do you still look at that mixtape yourself sometimes? For sure. It's interesting to me and you brought it up. It's like my kids will go watch it and now some of the kids on their team be like, "Your dad play NBA? He was in NBA." And they was like, "Yeah." and they like try to shy away from but I'm like you can't get away from that's why I didn't want to name them juniors and let them build their own legacy and their own name let them have their own life man well listen that's a perfect segue cuz uh again you're year two now in the Amazon Prime as a studio analyst uh how's the transition been right you retired in August 2025 and go right into the broadcasting booth man how's that
transition been for you leaving playing a game to now analyzing and talking to the audiences well it was interesting because when the Amazon had reached out to me at first I wasn't retired yet and they was like, "Well, we want to know if you going to be really locked into it." And I'm like, "Well, it's almost been two years since I last played. It's probably the right time to move on to that next phase." And uh I kind of talked with my team and we made a decision and I felt like it was time. I didn't think I was going to go back to the NBA and that window open. It's like right when I announced it, the next day I said I was going with Amazon Prime. Every like, "Oh, you already had this plan." I'm like, "Yeah, these are a
great group of people around, great team to be around." So, I'm super excited. I can't wait to get the season start. You know what I mean? We going to get opportunity to be doing the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time this year. You know, we got the NBA Cup championship game that's going to be in Indiana and then you get the six play term the playing teams that's going to be able to play in SoFi. So, it's just exciting to be around so many great players. I'm around so many Hall of Famers and so many great people that know the game but also enjoy like talking the game and that's what I enjoy about What made you say yes? Because again, it's it's a it could be a hard job, especially if you don't keep it
real. Like fans are going to look at it and say, "Oh, John, he friends with But I heard on the recent podcast, you said, "Look, I'm not if we can't this is my lifestyle now. This is how I get paid. If you can't accept how I'm being true, we don't have to kick it out." Well, I look at it just like this. I think people respect my basketball knowledge and what I have to say, but I look at this like they said me, you could be best friends. We get between those four lines and we compete. We're not friends right now. This is how we feed our family. So, my friends have to understand this is how I feed my family. This is my next phase of my career. Hops feed my family and I'm only critiquing your game to tell you what you can get
better and what you can work on. Like the same thing they did on me. I don't look at it as I'm bashing you or trying to talk down to you. And that's what I love about Amazon Prime. Like we're not trying to bash anybody or tarnish their career or say they a bad person or bad player. We're just up there talking about the knowledge of the game, what we see, what they can work on to get better, how the team can compete to get better. So it's never negative. It's always positive, but just critiquing that game in certain ways. Yeah. What do you miss still about playing, man? like what was the hardest thing to kind of give up because you know I think the hardest thing for me to give up is the league is like for me it's
like it's one it's like one-on-one now like when I came in it was most powerful and centers can be bullying and hand check and do those things now it's a lot of spacing now you see so many guys averaging 2530 I'm like why can't they do this when I was playing like I would have a field day in this so that's what I miss but I think just getting between those lines and competing like being on those big stages and competing and just imagine like if I was playing now I probably wouldn't be in this seat but I could be playing on Amazon Prime on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday, or even just get an opportunity to play like the inseason tournament like I never got that experience and the game is just
evolving and growing in so many different ways. Yeah. Well, I mean, did you get that itch to kind of come back? Are you still like fielding calls or are you completely Aaron Donald was retired, he came back? LaMarcus even was like, "Yeah, I'm not going to play." And then he came back. So, like guys change your mind all the time. Oh, no. It's over for me. Like, like Aaron Donald, I think for him like he won a championship there. So, he has that right to ease his way back in. You go get a Miles Garrett. Why would I want to come out of retirement? I feel like we have a chance to go win another, you know, I mean that one piece that they probably missing, but for me, this is my next phase. This is my career. I'm
enjoying the next phase and embracing the best way I can. Yeah. Now, you signed with Excel Sports to kind of manage that broadcasting side of your career, right? What was the decision to go with Excel? A whole bunch of agencies out there that probably wanted you. Yeah, there's so many great agents, but I think most importantly, uh, a guy Matt Davis. I mean, a guy that I used to work with before when, um, when I was with Dan Fagan before, he was like just coming into the game and being like a intern and figuring it out and working with me. and I just have a relationship with him. Like it's been 15 16 years I've known him and I think going into the next phase of my career I'm not playing anymore and this is a guy I know
that does a lot of great things off the court. I work with a lot of great people and I feel like we have that chemistry and we have that connection that I feel like was best for me. That's why I went with XL Sports. So you want someone that was familiar with you that was with you from the very beginning. Yeah. Well, listen man, put on your analyst cap now, right? Cuz the season is here, right? You know, I'm from Philly, so naturally I'm I'm I'm looking at the Sixers. I'm still a journalist. I can't root for them, but I'm looking at them, man. Um, what is John Wall looking at as the NBA season now, you know, starting to it's here basically, right? What are you looking at going into it?
I feel like it's going to be a competitive season this year because a lot of great teams and a lot of people had to move around, you know, I think now with a lot of teams not trying to go with a second apron. You're not getting the three superstars at one time, you're getting two now with a lot of great role players around you that can fit in and figure out what their role is. Uh, but it's a lot of excitement. I mean, everybody, the Knicks won after 53 years, I know people are excited about that. They put the banner up soon. Um, that's going to be dope. But I think like everybody want to see what Boston's going to do. You know, I mean, Jaylen Brown is gone. Is Jason Tatum going to
step up and be that guy? And I think a lot of people, like you said, in Philly, they waiting to see like in BS guy back in the almost rookie season shape. You know, I mean, can he be the number one guy now? Jaylen Brown, you go from being want to be number one guy in Boston to now are you the second option, third option, or fourth option because you have Maxi, you have LeBron, you have VJ. So, I think just figuring out how they mesh all that together. But my team is like seeing what OKC can do with getting Jaylen Williams back. I mean, they was right there in the Western Conference Finals against, you know, San Antonio last year. And then I want to see the jump that the Spurs gonna make because I
think they shocked a lot of us last year of getting to the finals where they never thought they would be there. And you kind of can tell when they won the West Conference final, they was crying and jumping up and down. They was like, "That's not the finals yet." But they just got over that hump. A young team that's growing. So, I can see them getting back there again. Yeah, I'm listen I got the Spurs wanted it all. Yeah, that's my team. They're hungry. They probably feel like they let it go. Pop is probably in the air now. Like I mean I got them winning and all but and I feel like they coach Mitch like he
he got that one year underneath them. Like he understand I can make my adjustments. I know. I think last year they got rattled. They didn't understand how to close out games and he didn't know when to call timeouts and make subs. But you know like you said they hungry. They learned from that and they going to grow from it. Yeah. Experience. But listen, let's stay on the Sixers for a minute because everybody's looking at them, right? Um you at one point said that you know listen I want to be a GM one day, right? I want to run a team. Um, what do you like about the Sixers? What do What don't you like about the Sixers? Put your GM/analyst hat on, right? What do you like about this team?
What don't you like about this team? Uh, I like the pieces they have. I think most importantly, I just don't want to stunt anybody growth. And I think it's going to be hard because like I said, Jaylen Brown's one of those guys that finally MVP, wants to be a number one option. He's proven that he can be that. He led the Celtics to a number two seed with Jason Tatum being out. So now, what role do you come in? Do you take the back seat now and just focus on trying to win? I know Embiid probably kind of want to take that because he wants to win the championship, but Braun has won one. He's I feel like you put Brian as basically the point guard on this team.
He has to be to run the show, get everybody involved, but Max is a young star trying to grow and continue to be an all-star and end up being a superstar and he have a second year player coming to VJ. Like what do he do? Like do you take the back seat and be the fourth or fifth option? Yeah. When you can't be aggressive. So for me, you can't do this cuz it's not the right thing to do. But for me, if I was a gym, I would basically bring VJ off the bench to be honest. I would put Cwell Pope in that starting lineup because you need a defender and a knockdown shooter. Now, if VJ becomes a lock knockdown shooter, which he already does defensively, then okay, he can stay in the starting
lineup, but I think it's going to be hard when you got five guys looking to get 15 to 20 shots a game. Yeah. Well, what don't you like about the team? Well, I don't like it. Ain't nothing I don't like. Only thing I don't like is they just lost their backup center. He got towards Achilles in the preseason game. So, I think they have to find somebody for that. So they might get that little injury reception they can get and go get somebody. But I think they don't have depth at the big man position. But other than that, I love what they have. Anthony Simons off the bench. You know, I mean, Cwell Popo
off the bench. We have a lot of good pieces they added to their team. You got Dean Wade, another guy that can defend and make corner threes. So they have the pieces. I just might not have the depth at the center position. Yeah. Well, how do you attack them? Like you see how I'm running? I'm running up and down the floor. I want to see if I for one, I have to put him beat him pick and roll. I want to see if he's healthy. Is that knee can move? And then we know Bronn is older. LeBron is still a dominant guy and a dominant force in this league, but I got to get him to run up and down the court. I know those other three young guys want to run. I know those other two want to run, but I'm putting a beat in a lot of
pick and rolls and making them work. For me, I think the most important thing is they have a lot of guys that can score the ball at a high level, but I'm packing the paint. Y'all got to show me y'all can be able to knock down threes. I know that's what uh Maxi does at a great level. He can knock down threes. We know Brown can make catch and shoot threes if he's there spacing, but I got to see if VJ and Jaylen Brown's going to be those guys that can make catch and shoot threes. I mean, I can't let them get to the paint. They get 10 toes in the paint is over with. Like nobody's going to be stopping. They're gonna be very dominant. The hard part is who's going to be guarding who.
You got three guys out of your guards. You got Braun is the number one option he could be at any moment. Jaylen Brown and Maxi. You only get two best defenders on the floor. Who they going to guard? I think that's the hard part people going to have to figure out. Yeah. And then again, if Embiid even shows flashes who he was. I mean, he is always I think he has been for the last few years that difference maker, right? If he's healthy, he's there. What team though is no one talking about that John Wall is saying, "Hey, watch out for these dudes because if y'all sleep, they might creep up on."
You know where I'm going? Washington. You going to DC? You got to go there. You have to go there. You got to give them their love because you have a guy in Trey Young that's been a star in this league. Been to the East College finally before. You know what I mean? Know how to play the game at a high level. 20 and 10 guy when he wakes up. Got a guy Anthony Davis that's another 20 and 10 guy when he's healthy. Like we talked about a be when he's healthy, what he brings to the floor. You have a young guy AJ Deans that just went number one. He's trying to prove what he could do. Keshan George can play well, Trey Johnson off the bench, Bub Kren, you have all those guys. They have the
pieces to make it work, but I think the most important thing for them is can they be healthy and can they all learn how to share the basketball as one? Yeah. But that's my sleeper though in the East that's going to make some noise. How about the most overrated team? Like the one that's like they probably not going to do too much for me. And it's hard to say I think Detroit Pistons because all the stuff they went through this summer with Jaylen Durant. I think if they can get him back locked in to their core and they team, they can get back to winning and being what they was last year. But having that much drama and not knowing
what's going on, do you really want to be here? Do you not want to be there? How does that mesh with the locker room? I think that's a team that overachieved last year and I don't know if they can get there again. Yeah, I thought you was going to say Cleveland. I really did. I was one of my team that was one of my team. That was my team. I really was going to say so you reading my mind. Yeah, I thought they was there. Yeah, I was going to say the Cavaliers. Well, listen, I went man and I said, you know, I got John Wall coming up and switching to the, you know, business side of it for a moment/ ownership side.
Uh, and one brother named Damen, he emailed me and said, you know, I would ask him, what current group of NBA players, past and present, do you see eventually owning NBA team? Definitely got to put LeBron up there. I think that's what his ultimate goal is to be one of those guys. Um, Steph Curry could be one of those guys in that format. Um, Jaylen Brown, I think so. Like he just how smart he is, like what he brings, his intelligence and what he knows. I can see him that. But KD, Kevin Durant's definitely in that picture. But I think those main guys right there like Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and LeBron. I think those three
core guys can be somebody that can own a team one day. John Waters want to own them. Own a team. Yeah, I definitely want to own a team, but you know, my ultimate goal is try to be a GM one day, right? A guy just love to be around. I think a lot of people think just cuz you're good at basketball, I'm good at basketball, we going to mesh together. You got to know how to put personalities together, put players together that work, and make a team complete. Yeah. But that'll be a different cap you wearing on trying to tell guys why they're not deserving of the max contract where you was on the seat where you trying to convince that you are worthy. Like you know the hard part is a lot of guys
like nowadays it's not even to be worth it. It's about you reading what somebody else got. Like if I know I'm going to if I feel like I'm the same caliber player this person, I'm turning down that money because he got it. Now I want to get what he got. That's all it is. That's what most of these guys do nowadays. Yeah. They just look at what other people get and say, "If you say me and you the same type of player and you got 40 million a year, I'm going to ask my people for 40 million a year or 41 just so I get more just I get a little bit more." It's like a war like whoever get paid first, the second guy want to get a little bit more.
Yeah. Yeah, man. What's it like being John Wall in 2026, man? I mean, I know you went through a lot and you had kind of mentioned, you know, again, your circle got smaller. You're a dad now, postretired, you know, what's it like being you now? Oh, it's cool, man. It's fun. It's I still get a lot of love. Like a lot of people wish I was still playing, but I tell them I love what I'm doing in broadcasting and sports analyst. Like I said, being a dad, just being locked in on that. Um, being a businessman, investing in a lot of things. I own a restaurant in Corables called Mika. So, I'm into that. Uh, I got a basketball team southeast of Melbourne in Phoenix in Australia. Uh, I invested in Zim
Water. I invested in Slate Milk. I have another big deal I got going on right now, which I can't talk about, but it's going to be super exciting soon. You buying a Rose Bar? No, no, no, no, no. Not buying that. I'm buying that. I think somebody already bought that one there. You can be an investor. No, I don't want that one. Most stores don't do too good like that. But, uh, just doing that, just like investing, doing business things, just trying to grow. Um, I have Audi dealership that I have in Gainesville,
Florida that I just got a couple months ago. So, just getting into different spaces, continue to grow and just become a smarter businessman and entrepreneur. Is it the John Wall Audi dealership? Like, what's that? No, no, it ain't that. But we working on something like that. We working on Yeah. Jamal Massurn has a whole bunch of dealerships, man. And like if people don't That's the one person that kind of got me into it. like Kentucky guy alumni, one of the great when I was working out and still figuring out I was coming back to the league. He was also working out before me and we would talk and he was telling me about the business and just trying to figure out
how it grows. So just working on that and just picking my brain with certain people I know that's been in that field and asking them how does it work? Yeah. Well, you want to own multiple dealers? Yeah. Multiple. Yeah. Okay. For sure. Not just one. Yeah. Okay. All Audi or different? No, no, not all Audi. You know where Mas has them Toyota ones. Those are the ones that's hard to get. Those ones those are the big franchises. Yeah. So you want a new Honda? Like those are the good ones.
Mercedes. You got to start somewhere to get there. But we working our way 100% working our way. Biggest positive surprise now that you're retired from the NBA. What's been the most the positive surprise? Positive has been like being able to draw all the time. My kids, you know, when we playing, we miss so much time of being away and basically your team is basically your family cuz you barely see your family, your real family as much. That's the most positive for me. I think the most negative is just like not being able to play, knowing it's o that it's over. But uh I'm enjoying everything outside of it though. Yeah, that's the negative though, like the still not being
Yeah, cuz like me, I'm just competitive. Like every time I go watch a game, I'm like this what I be doing, what I see somebody else not doing. And that's the hard part about me. It's like I think with some as players want to be coaches, we try to want players to be what we was or do the things we did. It's never supposed to be like that. They have their own skill set, their own attributes they're great at. So that's why I would want to be a head coach. I like being on the back side. Well, now that you're retired, what do you like as a leader off the court? Like I mean, you know, you got your business again, a dealership. What do you like as a businessman?
It's great cuz and me, like I said, I'm learning so I'm getting into so many different ventures and so many different investments I'm doing that I'm learning how these things work. It's like me being the president of basketball operations at Howard, you know what I mean? So, I'm learning how to be a GM, how to analyze the NIL, how do you work a budget of getting players to come here or go hit the portal and see how much we can offer this guy, offer that guy. So, just learning all the business aspects on different levels. Yeah. Well, listen, let's take a step back, right? because y'all of that learning and it all comes from somewhere, right? You born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Southside, right? What
was that like for you coming up down in Raleigh? Uh, it was tough. Not easy. Uh, my pops was arrested most of my life and got out when I was nine and pass. So, I've always seen my mom work three jobs to make sure we was able to do what we can do and take care of the family. She would pick us up from school, take her to school. That's the only time I would see her. So, she really knew, never knew how good I was at basketball. She like, "Is he good? Is he really good? Barely made basketball tournaments. sometimes wouldn't pay the light bill so I can go play a tournament. And mind you, this is when I'm 13, 14. I don't know if I'm ever going to make the NBA. This is just her
giving me opportunity to reach that. And in my neighborhood, they always knew I had a chance to be something. So, they never allowed me to do things that other people was doing. And I always think that I feel like where I'm from, the south side of Raleigh made me who I am as a man today. So, that's why I'm always doing backpack giveaways, turkey drives, uh feeding the Salvation Army, um at one of the best basketball tournaments right after Christmas, the John Wall Holiday Invitational in North Carolina. So, it made me who I am today and it made me the man I am and I'm glad I'm able to go back and show my kids where I'm from and all the positive I've been doing.
Yeah. Biggest thing you learned from your mom, Francis? He passed away in 2019 and, you know, again, you mentioned it, you know, sacrificing all the time for you. What's the biggest thing you learned from your mom? Just hard work. And, uh, she always told me just be known as a better person, not just a good basketball player. Yeah, I think that's where I try to carry myself is always being polite to people no matter where I am and always giving back because even when I was where I was, she would be up at 6:00 a.m. going to TJ Maxx and Marshalls was to go shop or go work at AE tournament and work at the front door and people like why you here working and she like this is what I want to do. Like my gift
is to give and give back and I think that's what I kind of took from her. Yeah, man. It's so funny cuz you I heard you talking about a story how she drunk Budw Wise like my mom used to drink Budw Wises, right? Like it's there man. But um do you still text her number every morning? For sure. Wow. I made sure I paid the bill for that for the rest of her time. I'm going to be on this earth, so I can send my daily text in the morning and my daily text at night. How does that help you? Uh, it helps me because I know like she can't respond, but I can still send my messages and know that I like nobody else has a number. Nobody else can ever respond to her the way I want to. And you know, sometimes you have your
moments when you just sit at home and you just reflect. And I always look at pictures and reflect. And um my display screen on my uh phone is like my first game against the Sixers and I we win the game and I give her a hug and I always just keep that as my Yeah. bio picture. Yeah. What was it like coming up, you know, again, black man in America trying to play basketball, right, without a dad? I was talking to a dear friend of ours, Michael Lee, you know, the Washington Post and he was saying, you know, man, John told me one time about how, you know, he didn't go to the beach for a long time because the last time he saw his dad, right? I would imagine you've been back there since with your own kids, right? But and I'm sure it
was hard, but what was that like for you coming up without a dad? It's tough. I think like I'm not the only person like that, but I think just having a great mom and she basically was my mom and dad, you know, I mean, she ended up having a stepdad down the road, but just seeing the sacrifice that she made for me and my sisters to make things happen and just having a great support system, right? My family around me, my aunts, my cousins, they always there. But it's it's not easy. I mean because you gota think in middle school and elementary some career day dads come tell had their career day or my dad come pick me up never had that I never got to experience that. So that's why I embrace me being present
with my kids being able to take them to school pick them up from school because I know my dad could he would have but he didn't get the opportunity to. So it was definitely not easy but it also made me who I am and made me stronger to be able to go through adversity and I always feel like God give his toughest battle to his strongest people. Yeah. What age did you fall in love with basketball? Like when I've been playing basketball since I was two. I was getting buckets really like it just came to you naturally like nothing just I was like 10 11 averaging like 30 and 40. Wow. But I was just little like even in 10th grade I was like 57 5'8. So you didn't watch cartoons on a Saturday and nothing. You just was hooping all day.
I'm hooping all day. Like now day these kids be on internet all day I'm when once homework over I'm pum outside. Boys and girls club. Got to shout out to Boys and Girls Club because that's where I used to go to after school. Go do your homework and we play all the time. PJ Tucker one guy from my same area. He grew up in the Boys and Girls Club. Lavel Mo and the coach at North Carolina Central. They all went there and it's like it build us who I want our character like figure it out like go outside and do different things.
Yeah. Well, that mixtape man again that changed your life I'm sure. Right. Back in 2009 that was man when that came out your junior senior in high school man. And um you know people discover I was I remember I saw Brandon Jenny's play for the first time when I was at Ruckers right and so I didn't see you but I was at Ruckers. I was a PA and I'm like dude this dude got the it. He just got it. And then I go see your mixtape. I'm like, yo, he him and Brandon Jennings like they just they're there, right? How did that change your life? Like you walking around campus like everybody knew who you was.
Well, it was interesting because in my junior year I could have left and go to like Oakill anywhere, you know what I mean? And go play and I'm like I'm number one playing in the country. I'm in North Carolina. Why would I leave where I'm from? So now it's more fun because everybody from my neighborhood, my family can come to every game and pack it out. And it was dope. It's like I'm glad social media wasn't around then because like you guess camera phones, they watching everything, seeing everything you do. So it kind of for me it took away from me trying to be a kid like when I went to college me's cousin Eric Blesso Patrick P all of us Daniel Orton we rock stars we couldn't walk from here
to across the street I guess cars unlimited right there so it kind of prepared me for what the NBA would be like a little bit earlier than I probably would have expected but I mean it's a great experience to live in and be in that moment I think the most important thing is just staying humble and hungry through the process so my favorite quote is never satisfied so determined that's what I live by no matter how much you accomplish don't get satisfied and always want to be determined to be better. To get better. Yeah. Again, you go to Kentucky, man. Get drafted in 2008. First round pick. Um, a good friend of mine, too. I called him up. His name is Ed Tapscott. Oh, right. You know, Tap. And I called Tap
up. I said, "Man, I got John Wall coming. What would you ask him?" He says, "You know, he's been through so much. Drafted at 19. He was a captain when he first got there, right? It was a lot put on him. Um, what would he tell the 19-year-old John Wall sitting in that draft room about how to navigate what's to come knowing what you know now? you know, played 11 seasons, John. You went through your injuries, had five all-star appearances, all NBA team, max contracts. What would you tell that 19-year-old about what's how to navigate life in the NBA? That's a great question. It's kind of hard to kind of figure out and ask on
the answer on the spot, but I would say just do it the way you did it. I think like you can't take anything away from the way I did it. I think I every time I step between those 10 uh those court, I give everything I had 110%. I think most important like only thing I would take back is the injuries, but you can't control that because it's a part of the game. It's a part of what goes on. But I think just be locked in. Um, pay attention to signs a little bit earlier. When things are thrown out there and people show you their true hands, believe it. But, uh, I'm big on loyalty is love. So, you know, I mean, I see somebody I'm locked in with. I don't want to believe what I'm seeing or believe is true right away. And I kind
of let it go a little bit longer. I think that's the only thing I'll probably change. Daddy, injuries, but injuries you can't change. Yeah. You wouldn't change that mindset because again, you your favorite player was Allen Iverson, right? And he I was in Philly. He played through everything, right? You wouldn't do that differently knowing that your body may be able to hold up a little bit better. No, because I felt like, and I take a quote from Michael Jordan, you know what I mean? Like, if somebody bought a ticket, it might be the only time to buy a ticket to watch me play. If I can go out there and compete and it's not
broke, why not go out there and put on a show for them? Yeah. So, that's one of my other quotes I use I think only thing different now, and I think I tell a lot of these young guys now, use the resources. Like they have trainers, they can have their own personal trainer come work with the team staff. We didn't have that at that time. We had to use what the team gave us and think like that. We really wasn't getting second opinions. It was whatever the team doctor said or did they say you going to go do and do that. So I think just me getting second opinions and do other things a little different. Yeah. But playing and competing. N I loved it cuz if you would have found out about those bones earlier, I mean imagine you
know what would have happened, right? I'll show you a picture later like whoa. Yeah. I mean listen you describe it like that. I'm like wow. Right. Um but you know listen your time in the NBA you know far you had a lot of success right? When you get max contracts you're pretty good. you well off, right? But um if you had to look back and you had to describe your career in one word, what word would that be? Electric. Why electric? Cuz every time I went out there, it's like I can have six points, but it looked like I had 20 because it was so spectacular. Electric. It's like I never tried to make every play spectacular,
but it just was a natural ability in my instincts of just going with the Florida game and just playing. So I would say electric or I say a dog. A dog. Yeah, I like that better cuz I mean you came your highlights looked, man. Listen, you know, me and Michael was talking for a while about you, man. He said, "Yo, the dude had nine steals his first home game, right?" I was mad cuz they didn't tell me I could have broke the record of 10. I could have got one more quadruple double like nine steals. And so again, man, I'm looking I love that dog in you.
I say dog. I go dog. I take that back, Yeah. Well, listen, you since we only one names, right? Um, when I say these names, you tell me the first thing that pops to mind, and I'm going to start because I just said it. And Allen Iverson, my goat. Goat. I love it. Steve Nash. First player to cook you in the NBA. You said Steve Nash. I say crafty. Yeah, I love that. David West. I love David West, man. That's my guy. Like give him the hard cap. Like hard cap. Like he's a glue guy to any team. Like he don't do too much, but he fits right in. So he get the hard hat for me.
Yeah. I love that man. Chris Paul. Another North Carolina guy. PG point guy. You got to come point guy. Yeah. He's a point guy, bro. Like the way he can structure a game, manipulate a game, do whatever he needs, do everything his team needs at any point in time. know when to take the right shot. Do that thing. Point guard. Yeah. Flip Murray. Another guy from Philly. You watched him down at Shaw, man. He's You said I used to watch Flip Murray. I didn't want to like cuz he got street ball game and brought it to the league. So, whatever you want to call it, it street ball legend, street ball, NBA legend, whatever you want to call it.
Street ball legend might be the one. He got it. He did. I first seen him, I'm like, "No way. He should be He shouldn't be playing that show." Yeah. He came through communities, man. He should be playing that show. Yeah, man. Flip was a legend. He was a street legend. He was, man. He held his own. He held his own, man. Real deal. Bradley Bill. And I asked about Bradley because, you know, there were times as us writers and us journalists, we always say when the Wizards come in town, all right, it's the John Wall Bradley Bill show, right? Back and forth. And Michael Lee brought up
another story. He says, "Man, there were times he would just go back and forth and they were good, but sometimes he may have left out other guys, right?" He gave me an example of Otto Porter who had nine shots one half. Second half he only gets two touches because you and Brad was going back and forth, right? But that's your brother, right? And I know that you guys had those great moments and then it ended. But when you think back on his game, right, what would you how would you describe Brad Bill in one word? What's a word? Smooth. Why smooth? Smooth cuz he just his game is just smooth. Like he don't do too much. He not super flashy. He going to get to his spots, pull up jumper, catch and shoot
three, got one of the nice jump shots I seen and get to the basket. So I say his game just smooth. He going to give you 30 and it's smooth. He ain't going to talk. He going to just be cruising. Yeah. Do you wish that maybe things ended differently there at the last few years you guys were there? Oh, for sure. I think but you know, it's a part of the game. Like I dealt with injuries and then he started to blossom and get better with time and then I hopefully we could have got that one chance to see how it would have went when I came back from injury, but we didn't get that. But yeah, I think I wish I would have got another run to play with him. Yeah, for sure.
Definitely. Yeah, I was going to say Kim Beasmore, but I'm like, man, that might trigger something because Oh, no. Just injury me. Just injury. That but that took you out that year cuz y'all really felt y'all could have beat the cast. like y'all would have at least given I feel like we was a team out of the East and I think they probably said we would have beat them probably not but I think we would have gave a great chance. Yeah, that would have been the East Conference finals a lot of people wanted to see, right? Because in the regular season we always on TV competing against each other. I think we was the one team that me and Kyrie we going to do our thing. I think Brad will win the two guard match up.
Braun cool three man we don't have nothing. Center I feel like we win that against Trent Thompson. The four man is up in the air so it's 22 and then it's just a wild card that's out there. So I think we could have competed well against him. Yeah. And that game, game seven, it comes down to anything, right? Uh, another friend of mine, man, I hit him up and I said, "What would you ask John Wall?" Right. J. Michael, right? J Michael, he says, you know, if you could do it all over again, would you have forced your way out of DC sooner and maybe joined a super team knowing that you wanted to put yourself in a championship? You say
no. And I agree because I asked Michael Lee that same thing. He says, "No, John, his dad was from DC and he took it personal to play there." I would have never left DC. Never wanted to leave DC. I wanted to be like uh Kobe and Dirt the Whiskey. Play for one team my whole career. I mean to the point where they would had to tell me I had to leave. But no, everything I did, everything I did for the community, like giving back, still doing things there, I wanted to win for that city. I mean, it was nothing else I wanted to do but to win for the city. Like try to bring a championship there, try to get to the
finals and try to do all those things. So, no, I would have never pushed my way to go cuz it's not guaranteed if I go to a super team I'm going to win. That's right. You know, you're not guaranteed. You know what I mean? It's like, are you going to get the same love that you get from where you was at? Yeah. So, no, I would have stayed. It's funny cuz the in his career, Car Malone was playing with the Lakers and he never won a championship. It's like, yeah, I think he blew his knee out.
Super team. I'm like, man, it's nothing, Gary Payton, all them over there. Absolutely. Gary at least got one in Miami. Yeah, he got one. But hey, man, get out of here on some fun stuff in a minute. But, uh, any other missed investment opportunity that you just like if you can go back, you would say, man, I probably would have did that. And a classic example of that was Derek Rose was sitting right here too and he could have invested in a Chick-fil-A in downtown Chicago and he missed out on that, right? Any investment opportunity you missed it? I think Hyper came out very early and I got opportunity to invest in that and I just ain't do it right then. Wow. And I was hot like to this day I'm still hot.
Yeah. So it's like two other I can't forget the name but it's like two others I like I should have did but at the time I just wasn't in the right space to do it. I was in the right space, but my mind wasn't there for it. And I didn't have the right team around me to like give me the game, the information, the details I needed on it. So, I'm mad I missed out on that. Yeah. Any real estate? You apartment complexes? Anything? I'm doing that right now. Yep. I'm getting into that now. In North Carolina where? No, in Florida first, then I get to North Carolina.
Okay. Apartment buildings or Yeah. Okay. Apartment building. Is it around college communities? Everybody is doing more so it's more so like kind of like uh like one of the areas like Brow right now. And then I got another investment portfolio I'm doing with 11 condos. That's right by Jazelle the restaurant 11 club. I invested in 11 condos that's coming up there. Love it. Any crypto? You any of that? I haven't got into no crypto. Are you going to look into it maybe one day? I don't know. I might I think I like where I'm at but you know I mean it's like people try everything and I like
try to stay in my own lane and if I get the right resources and somebody come with the right opportunity. Yeah. But like, you know, I mean, I think some of us like might get an investment like I'm going put a million dollars in this. I'm like, "Okay, no. I rather take 10 things and put 100,000 in 10 things and hopefully one of those hit cuz if I just put a million in one thing and the other out of that one don't hit the other 10, I'm be mad." Yeah. So, I like to spread it out and give myself a variety. Yeah. I love that, man. Well, listen. What do you want to see in a business pitch? Somebody has an idea, they want to pitch you, they see you on the street, John, I got this idea. What do you want to see in their pitch to make you, you know, get
I think most importantly people I've been dealing with this my whole career like friends, family bring like business ideas to me and I'm like are you putting your money up like they don't want to put out a dollar up like you want me to put all my money up but like I don't care you don't got to put like what I'm putting up at least put something in 5,000$10,000 show me that you even believe in like you don't put nothing up I don't want to feel like it's worth it. Yeah, that's my biggest thing. Like somebody bring investment to me or idea like are you invested in it or do you think it's going to be like that? Like cuz anybody can say I think it's going to do this.
Everybody come with a lot of ideas, but at least show me that you're putting something towards it and I'll catch you something to lose with that money. Yeah. I don't want to be the only one to lose. Yeah. Well, listen. You ready to pass your business empire off to your two sons and maybe a girl? I have a daughter, man. I hope you get a girl. That's going to really change your life, right? But um what do you want that your business empire to be in one word? Like when you're ready to pass it off to your sons.
Wealthy. Yeah. Oh, that's a easy one, man. I love that one. I want that one wealthy. Yeah, but I but at the same time I not just I wanted to be wealthy where like they don't have to do stuff but I they gonna have to work for it. Like I'm not just gonna hand them everything at one time. I'm like let's say if they 18 like hey you might get 5 million but you only get a certain amount every month. I'm not giving you a boatload of money at once. They don't know what to do with it. They never been through that experience they never went through. They never been guided through it. So hopefully they have a great financial team around and great people around that can guide them
and show them how to go. I'm going to do my best I can while I'm here. But at the same time, you know, kids get older. You don't know what it's going to be in the next 10, 11, 12 years of how the world's going to grow and improve. Yeah. Love that, man. We'll get you out of here on some fun stuff. If I gave you 10 grand right now, it'll be a loan, right? But what's the first thing you invest in with that 10 grand? How long I got to pay you back? How long Five years. Oh, I'm going to invest in one of these prep schools. Okay. Oh, nobody's ever said that before.
Yeah, I'm going to invest. Why that? Why prep schools? Because these prep schools are taking over and you have all this NIL. You getting all these top schools that all these top players that want to go to these schools. So, uh, like a school like Poly Prep, like an amazing school. They about to do something spectacular. You have like INMG, all these other schools. So, I think investing in debt, you're going to get your money back quick. That's right. Yeah. I love that, man. John Wall superpower. What is it? Take mosquitoes and bugs away. I don't like to be bit like I be trying to be in the backyard of Florida backyard, right? And I be getting tor my superpower is get the bugs out of here. That my superpower. Get the
bugs out of here. I love that, man. Look, Top AI app. What are you using nowadays? You into it? Nope. No. But I have a guy that I'm one of my like close friends I'm doing business with now. He started AI. So he's putting me on the game of how it works and does things. So I have a better answer. No chat GPT, no claw, no nothing yet. People use chat GPT sometimes from like, you know what I mean? Yeah. You have to research something. But that's how you can tell from the old school, man. We just do things a little bit differently, right? I go to Google quicker. Just let me figure something out.
Yeah. I love it, man. Well, listen. I get you out of all this and you should know um my favorite business book, Good to Great by Jim Collins. And you know, I ask you, um, what's the difference between a good NBA player here we are in 2026 and a great one? I think every a NBA player that comes to any NBA is good. And that's something you have to explain to your friends because they had to be good enough to get to the NBA. They all average 20 at some point, right? So, I think that's a good one. A great one is the one that has a routine. It's always on schedule, on time. Like if practice is at 10, they're the first ones in the gym. They doing extracurricular things of watching film, breaking down film,
being the last guy to lead a gym. So, I think the great ones are the ones that has a schedule, sticks to their routine, and try to get better and develop every single day throughout the season. Yeah, I love that, man. Well, listen, John, I appreciate the time. You got to come back, talk more business, man. And uh good luck on season two, man. Watching if Listen, if you don't keep it real, man, I'mma be on them comments, too. Like, yo, John playing around. He not talking the truth.
Shout out NBA Prime, man. Season two on the way out October 23rd, but we keeping it real on it. Yeah, I love it, man. Keep on doing your thing. John Wall here at the NASDAQ and the Enterprise Zone. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening.
