

((Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)

Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said Wednesday evening the Wizards will make sure John Wall doesn’t do anything that would further hurt his injured wrist as they prepare for Game 3 of their series with the Hawks.

In a radio interview with Chad Dukes on 106.7 The Fan, Leonsis said the news that Wall wouldn’t play in Game 2 was “stunning to me,” since he had seen Wall only a few moments before.

“John came out, he gave me a hug, gave me a fist bump,” Leonsis said.

But the owner was soon told Wall wouldn’t play, not because of pain but because the point guard didn’t think he would be effective.

“He didn’t think he could contribute,” Leonsis said. “I mean, if you can’t dribble with your left hand, if you can’t play defense with your left hand, if you can’t drive with your left hand….So he did the right thing. And I don’t know the outcome. I know they’re treating it.”

Grant Paulsen then wondered if Leonsis would text or call Wall to find out how the injury was healing.

“No, I would never do that,” Leonsis said. “I think that would be inappropriate. He’s probably got enough pressure on himself. And to be straightforward, we’ve got to do what’s in the best interest of the player in this case, so you don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his health in any way. And he’s such a competitive player, he’ll want to play. And it’ll be up to him and people around him and us to make sure that he doesn’t do anything that would hurt himself, because he’s going to have a really, really long career here.”

Leonsis later said that his team thought it should have won Game 2 even without Wall, and that his absence wouldn’t be a death knell.

“Injuries happen,” the owner said. “For us, it’s our point guard. If you look at the stats, John has the ball in his hand and does things with the ball more than any other player in the league. It’s absolutely the wrong guy. He’s a starting first-team all-star.

“But we’re now at the point where the team thought it should have won [Tuesday] night. I thought we should have won [Tuesday] night. The team doesn’t think if John Wall doesn’t play, that’s it. And so that’s another sign to me that we’ve developed, that we’ve got a lot of talent, that we’ve got a lot of depth. The team certainly feels that if John Wall is playing and Bradley Beal is playing, that they can be one of the best teams in the East.”

Meanwhile, between the TNT broadcast and still photographs, we have a bunch of images of Wall coaching up the Wizards from the sidelines. Imagine how much of a leader he could be had he not danced that one time.



(By Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)



(By Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)



(By Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)

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