John Wall didn’t take the job at Howard University just for the photo op. The five-time NBA All-Star wants to run an NBA front office one day, and he’s treating this like grad school for that ambition.
Wall was named president of basketball operations for the Bison earlier this year. It’s a role some former players treat as ceremonial, but Wall made it clear he’s not here to just put his name on a letterhead.
“Ultimately I wanna be a GM,” Wall said on The Assist podcast with Kyle Tucker. “So it’s giving me opportunity to understand the business side of understanding how you control the NIL.”
He gave a real example of the kind of decisions he’s already making. Say the program has a million-dollar budget. A star player wants $300,000. Wall’s thinking, maybe you let that guy go and add four or five others who fill the same need. Which move actually makes the team better? That’s the kind of math an NBA general manager does every summer.
Wall retired from the NBA after 11 seasons, mostly with the Washington Wizards who drafted him No. 1 overall in 2010. He helped drag that franchise out of the lottery and into the playoffs multiple times. Now he’s learning the other side of the business, and he’s got a leg up on some other active players holding similar titles at their colleges.
“I have a lot more time on my hands that I can do than probably guys that’s still playing the league that has this role,” Wall said. “I’m one of those people that I like to give my time. I just don’t wanna put my name on something and just be like, ‘Okay, let it be.’”
Hands-On Learning
Wall said the job covers basically every part of roster construction. He’s working the transfer portal, evaluating which players to target. He’s dealing with NIL budgeting. He’s watching film and sitting in on game planning. He’s learning player development from the front office side rather than the locker room.
“For me, it’s all of it,” Wall said when asked what he wants to take away. “Understanding the business side… going into the portal, figuring out what guys you wanna go after… You really understand what this process is all about.”
He also had respect for Howard head coach Kenneth Blakeney, who’s built the Bison into one of the top HBCU programs in the country. “I think he’s just… most importantly, he don’t think for hisself,” Wall said. “He thinks for everybody that’s around him.”
Wall is already working as an NBA analyst for Prime Video and Monumental Sports. The Howard gig gives him practical front office experience without the pressure of sitting behind a real NBA desk yet. But he’s made it clear that’s the endgame.
Whether it takes him two years or ten, Wall is doing the homework now.
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