There were a lot of broken hearts when the Washington Wizards announced their decision to trade John Wall to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Russell Westbrook back in 2020. Wall, who now plies his trade with the Los Angeles Clippers, was Washington's cornerstone superstar for many years, so it was indeed a dark day when the front office pulled the plug on him. By his own admission, Wall himself never really wanted to leave in the first place.

In a recent podcast appearance, Wall revealed the details of how his trade away from Washington went down. Apparently, he received a message from none other than Westbrook himself, who asked him straight up about Wall's unwillingness to take part in the blockbuster deal:

“Russ DMs me out of nowhere… He texted me ‘D.C. trying to get me but they saying you ain't wanna leave.' (I'm) like, ‘F**k no, this is my franchise,'” Wall said.

Obviously, Wall wanted to stay. As it turns out, however, not everyone was on the same page. At that point in time, the Wizards already wanted to move on from him. Apparently, even Bradley Beal already knew that Wall's exit was inevitable. According to John, there was one conversation with Beal that made him realize that his time in D.C. had come to an end:

“We talkin' and s**t, and I'm like, ‘What we gone do, we're gonna run it back one more year?' Once he said, ‘I'm gone think about it,' I knew I was traded,” Wall said.

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Wall made it abundantly clear that he has nothing but love for Bradley Beal. Wall considers him to be his brother. However, it is clear that John still holds that conversation with Beal close to his heart. Perhaps it was at that point that he realized that the only thing stopping his Wizards exit was his incessant desire to stay.