Listen, I understand that it is fun to speculate about future contracts, who is worth max money, and all that other assorted jazz. But there is absolutely no sane reason that so many different sources should be talking about John Wall's possible max extension with the Wizards right now, in the early Spring of 2013.
Wall is eligible to sign an extension with the Wizards up until before the beginning of the '13-14 regular season. If the Wizards and Wall can't agree to an extension at that point, Wall will become a restricted free agent in July of 2014. The important word there is restricted. Even if another team offers Wall a max contract of approximately 4 years, $60 million, Washington can match it.
In short, if the Wizards want to keep Wall, they can do so, no matter what. They really do not have to make a decision on whether Wall is worth max money until the Summer of 2014. If they do decide at that point he is worth the max, they can give him a four or five year max deal.
Giving very early max contract extensions to players still on rookie contracts strikes me as daft. Especially in cases like Wall's, where the player very well might not be worth a max extension. The only bad thing that can happen by waiting to sign such a player is to seriously alienate him. But such fears I feel are heavily overblown, especially in a situation like this, where Wall is very self-aware of how he ranks on the point guard totem pole.
Actually, Wall's sober assessment of how good he currently is as a player makes this whole situation even more astounding. Ty Lawson and Stephen Curry both signed for far less than the max this past Fall, and if I were the Wizards I would certainly try to get Wall to sign a similar deal to those two. The discussion should not be whether they offer him a four or five year max deal, but whether Wall will accept a 4 year, $50 million deal.
Don't get me wrong - Wall is nice player, and he might be worth a max contract. But now, and the next six months, is not the time to decide this. Wall is a serious injury concern, and his play has only truly warranted a huge contract recently, and not in his first two and a half years in the league. The Wizards need to be realistic and understand that there is absolutely no point in giving Wall a max deal before the regular season opens next year, and that they would probably be best served to wait to give such a massive contract to Wall until 2014. Being the Wizards, I fully expect them not to heed this advice whatsoever.
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