John Wall considers himself the top point guard in the NBA, so it has to sting that the those responsible for putting the U.S. Olympic basketball team together don’t nearly feel the same way.
Though Wall participated in minicamps with Team USA for the past two summers, he was passed over by guards Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard.
The fact that the committee chose the injured riddled Rose, and Williams over Wall speaks volumes about his status around the league in comparison to other guards.
Wall is one of two American-born No. 1 overall picks in the past 11 years not to receive an invitation to Team USA. Greg Oden is the other.
Wall told the Washington Post that he’ll definitely use the snub as motivation.
“I been through it before. The main thing for me is try to be professional. I went out there and played. I did it the right way,” Wall said of his experiences with Team USA minicamp. “I just use it as more motivation. It’s nothing I could do. It’s nothing I can say, and I don’t want nobody to babysit me or try to make it work for me. They made their list, they made their decision and that’s what they’re happy with, and I just have to look past that. It’s more motivation because I didn’t make McDonald’s game. I wasn’t national player of the year. I wasn’t rookie of the year. So those are just tabs I keep to motivate myself to prove people wrong.”