Former NBA center Justin Patton was just minding his own business, only to get hit with an unexpected diss.
LA Clippers guard John Wall appeared this week on the “Run Your Race” podcast and pulled no punches while discussing his time on the Houston Rockets. Wall, who was with Houston for two seasons from 2020 to 2022, criticized the Rockets for blatantly tanking during his first year and took a random shot at his ex-Houston teammate Patton in the process.
“We lost 20 in a row, we was tryna lose on purpose,” said Wall of the Rockets. “We was starting n—-as named Justin Patton.”
Here is the clip (but obviously beware of the bad language).
“My first year in Houston we were tanking we lost 20 in a row, we was tryna lose on purpose… We was starting n*ggas named Justin Patton”
— John Wall 😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/fAptlVBhPE pic.twitter.com/TF2sG8P0cy
— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) January 17, 2023
Patton himself responded to the diss shortly after the clip went viral. “I thought we were cool @JohnWall,” Patton wrote.
I thought we were cool @JohnWall https://t.co/ERKt1IcKkw
— Justin Patton (@JustinPatton17) January 17, 2023
Poor Patton. He sounded so disappointed by what he heard from Wall there.
Wall did get his facts right about Houston. After trading away James Harden in the early weeks of that 2020-21 season, they went on a 20-game losing streak that lasted from Feb. 6 to March 21. Over that span, Patton (the No. 16 overall draft pick in 2017) made six starts … accounting for six of his 22 career appearances in the NBA. Patton never played another minute in the league after that season with the Rockets and now plays in France for the professional team Cholet Basket. Houston, meanwhile, finished at 17-55 (.236) that year and ended up with the No. 2 overall draft pick (selecting their new franchise player Jalen Green).
After playing out the rest of that season, the five-time NBA All-Star Wall sat out the 2021-22 campaign by mutual agreement with the Rockets. He was eventually bought out by Houston and then signed with the Clippers. Later in the podcast, Wall called his time on the Rockets “beyond trash” (among other sharp comments). You can listen to the episode in full here.
While Wall was likely correct about Houston’s strategy, an unprompted swipe at an old teammate like that is not the best look (especially since Wall also had issues with teammates during his previous stop before Houston).
