{"id":586778,"date":"2026-02-06T18:57:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T18:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/586778\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T18:57:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T18:57:18","slug":"washington-wizards-celebrate-john-walls-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/586778\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Wizards celebrate John Wall’s legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jonathan Forney
Special to the AFRO<\/p>\n

\"\"Zach Leonsis (left), Monumental Sports president of media and new enterprises, presents a $25,000 check to John Wall in efforts to help his organization, the John Wall Foundation, grow in their capacity to positively impact children and families in disadvantaged communities. Wall was joined in accepting the check by his sons, Ace (second from left) and Amir Wall.
(Photo courtesy of X (Twitter) \/ Zack Leonsis)<\/p>\n

The Washington Wizards honored the career and community impact of former star John Wall on Thursday, Jan. 29 at Capital One Arena as they took on the Milwaukee Bucks. Fans were shown highlights of Wall\u2019s achievements on and off the court for the city.<\/p>\n

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Attendees were given special bobble heads commemorating Wall\u2019s game-winning three-pointer in the 2017 National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs, where he stood atop the scorer\u2019s table and hyped up the crowd. A special \u201cJohn Wall of Fame\u201d was set up to allow fans to check out awards, game-worn shoes and photos from his career in Washington.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love y\u2019all,\u201d Wall said to the team and his fans. \u201cThis is still my city. This is still my house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans were able to submit their favorite memories of the All-Star\u2019s career as a Wizard through a QR code. There was plenty of dancing in the crowd as footage looped of Wall hitting his signature \u201cDougie\u201d dance. The speakers also blasted Troop 41\u2019s \u201cJohn Wall\u201d song to hype up the fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wall retired in August 2025 after 11 seasons in the NBA. During halftime, a special tribute to the Raleigh native was projected onto the court. Wall was also honored for his impact in the D.C. community. He was surprised to learn that the next renovation to the Randall Recreation Center basketball court in Ward 6 will bear the name the \u201cJohn Wall Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wall was actively involved in community outreach during his career and continues to be in retirement. He helped pay residents\u2019 rent, donated to various organizations and volunteered in the D.C. community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing for me was not just basketball, but what you do off the court,\u201d Wall said.<\/p>\n

When he was awarded the NBA\u2019s season-long Community Assist Award for the 2015\u20132016 season, he called the outreach that he did \u201cthe most rewarding part of being an NBA player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zach Leonsis, Monumental Sports president of media and new enterprises, presented a $25,000 check to the John Wall Foundation in recognition of their continuing work in the region. Wall was joined in accepting the check by his sons, Ace and Amir Wall.<\/p>\n

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The foundation provides mentorship, education and opportunities to exercise to disadvantaged families and at-risk youth.<\/p>\n

The Wizards went on to defeat the Bucks 109-99, led by sophomore guard Kyshawn George\u2019s 23 points. George is a part of the Wizards\u2019 young roster that didn\u2019t play alongside Wall, but his impact on the team is still being felt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he was a big leader in D.C. Not only for the team, but for the community,\u201d George said, adding that it\u2019s important to see an example of a great basketball player that can also impact the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou try to model yourself after [them],\u201d said George.<\/p>\n

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Wizards\u2019 big man, Alex Sarr, echoed the sentiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done so much here,\u201d Sarr said. \u201cI was just happy to see the love that the city gave him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read what we will cover next!<\/p>\n

133 years ago we were covering Post-Reconstruction when a former enslaved veteran started the AFRO with $200 from his land-owning wife. In 2022 we endorsed Maryland\u2019s first Black Governor, Wes Moore. And now we celebrate the first Black Senator from Maryland, Angela Alsobrooks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jonathan ForneySpecial to the AFRO Zach Leonsis (left), Monumental Sports president of media and new enterprises, presents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3780],"tags":[78891,979,78892,7,15331,1916,78893,6333,121,6,682,468,3892,683,53957],"class_list":["post-586778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-wizards","tag-ace-wall","tag-alex-sarr","tag-amir-wall","tag-basketball","tag-capital-one-arena","tag-john-wall","tag-john-wall-foundation","tag-kyshawn-george","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-nba","tag-washington","tag-washington-wizards","tag-washingtonwizards","tag-wizards","tag-zach-leonsis"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116025220756152643","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}