As confident as he may be, even Washington Wizards superstar John Wall was not immune from the heavy burden brought about by all the negative criticism thrown toward him. The 28-year-old recently admitted that the worst of them all was when people started questioning his value for the Wizards, and if he really deserved the four-year, $170-plus million extension he signed with the team back in 2017:

“The only thing I questioned was ‘the worst contract in NBA history,'” Wall said on a podcast with NBC Sports Washington's Chris Miller, via Quinton Mayo.  “That was my lowest point because I was like do I really deserve this money? Did I really earn it?”

“I looked back at all the years and all the things I've been through and said yes, I did deserve this, I did earn this. It was never given to me.”

Despite going to the extent of questioning his own self-worth, Wall was confident enough in his own ability, and at the end of the day, he was able to use all the negativity as motivation to further improve his game.

“To say I have the worst contract in NBA history, that's all I needed,” Wall said. “The ones that doubted me on the highest level I don't speak to because I know my game will do the talking when I get back to playing.”

“To be honest, everybody that I care for and have love for are all still there and even more supporting,” Wall said. “That's all I care about.”

John Wall, who is expected to miss all of next season due to an Achilles injury, will need to wait a long time before he is able to return to the court to prove his doubters wrong. At this point, the best thing for him to do would be to focus on his recovery and ensure he is able to eventually come back at full strength.