John Wall trying to use USA Basketball snub as motivation

When USA Basketball announced its pool of players being considered for the World Championships this summer (and the Rio Olympics in a couple years) the list included the best point guards in the NBA: Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Damian Lillard.

John Wall was not on that list. His Wizards’ teammate Bradley Beal made the cut as a two guard but not Wall.

Wall feels snubbed.

It’s likely that Wall be named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team this week, but he is using not getting his name called by Team USA as motivation, he told the Washington Post.

“I been through it before. The main thing for me is try to be professional. I went out there and played. I did it the right way,” Wall said of his experiences with Team USA minicamp. “I just use it as more motivation. It’s nothing I could do. It’s nothing I can say, and I don’t want nobody to babysit me or try to make it work for me. They made their list, they made their decision and that’s what they’re happy with, and I just have to look past that. It’s more motivation because I didn’t make McDonald’s game. I wasn’t national player of the year. I wasn’t rookie of the year. So those are just tabs I keep to motivate myself to prove people wrong.”

Wall is skilled and putting up career numbers this season — 20.2 points per game, getting 1.9 steals and he is shooting 32.5 percent from three — but at the deepest position in the NBA right now (at least in terms of elite players) that is not enough. Wall is not better than anyone on that list (save for maybe Deron Williams when injured this season) and his three point shooting is not strong enough for the international game where that matters more.

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The USA basketball pool of players is fluid, some guys will fall out, some guys will jump in. Wall could jump in. Mike Krzyzewski has put in a system where the USA tries to run and use its superior athleticism to overwhelm opponents.

Wall, who is quick with the ball, could fit into that. But he’s going to have to prove it even more on the court during the NBA season to make his case.