John Wall met with Rafael Stone and Stephen Silas about returning to the lineup of the Houston Rockets.
“Rafael (Stone, the Rockets general manager) and I did meet with John (on Sunday) and he had indicated that he wants to play and work towards that so right now we’re in that phase as far as getting him back in game shape,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “He’s been doing a lot of one-on-oh type stuff and one-on-one type stuff but nothing up and down, nothing four-on-four, five-on-five.
“Right now is the ramp-up time. That’ll probably take a couple weeks. We’ll continue our conversations and try to determine what it looks like.”
Before the season, Wall agreed with Houston's plan to have him sit out while they pursue a trade. Wall has since begun lobbying directly to Stone and on social media to begin playing.
“That’s part of the discussions we’re going to be having,” Silas said. “Yesterday was discussion No. 1. That was very much centered around him getting to a place he can play in an NBA game. He’s in great shape.
“He is diligent as far as his work. He’s been positive and all that stuff. But as far as getting in game shape, our guys have had training camp and they’ve been practicing and they had games. He hasn’t had any of that. Right now, it’s about getting him to that point.”
Silas said it would be a goal to have Wall ready and available to play though there are additional considerations.
“Yeah, if he’s able to play,” Silas said. “It has to be good for everybody. It has to be good for him. It has to be good for our organization. It has to be good for our group. There’s more to it than just one conversation and getting ready to play and now you play.
“There’s what does the role look like? What does it look like for the group? What does it look like for everybody? We’re at stage one.”