John Wall isn’t taking very well to becoming the butt of jokes.
The Washington Wizards announced Tuesday that its mercurial point guard and former top overall pick will miss about 12 months after surgery on Jan. 8 to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon, an injury that Wall suffered during a slip at his home.
The announcement sent the future of the middling franchise into uncertainty with Wall’s four-year, $169.3 million extension that begins next season. It also drew unsolicited opinions and jokes on social media, including one from outspoken Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster.
“Bruh what you doing at the crib,” Smith-Schuster asked, accompanied by a crying face emoji.
But Wall, a five-time All-Star who hasn’t played since late December, was not amused by the attempt at humor.
“Funny guy and all that, but I’ll see u around bra,” Wall responded.
Smith-Schuster is very active on social media and usually in a light-hearted way, though it appears he has gone too far for Wall’s liking.
Whatever comes of the social media beef is unclear, but Wall’s injury is a “devastating blow” for the franchise, according to one columnist for the Washington Post. It also marks an end to the Wall era in Washington as a whole, columnist Jerry Brewer claims.
“It’s over, sadly, this era,” Brewer wrote Tuesday. “The Wizards have finished .500 or better for five straight seasons, made the playoffs four times and advanced to the second round three times. It’s a solid run, nothing glamorous, but this was supposed to be only the beginning. The door slammed quickly, though.”