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Scott Brooks announces that John Wall will not play back-to-backs until further notice

The announcement was made after Friday’s win.

By Albert Lee
NBA: Atlanta Hawks at Washington Wizards Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

After Friday’s 95-92 win over the Atlanta Hawks, Wizards head coach Scott Brooks announced that John Wall will miss Saturday’s game against the Orlando Magic. The plan is to rest him one game in back-to-back sets until further notice. Last spring, Wall had procedures done on both knees and had some other nagging ailments as well.

Here’s Scott’s quote from J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic.

You can watch Wall’s post game video here from Monumental Network when he mentioned that there was no timetable attached to when his back-to-back restriction ends.

For the time being, Tomas Satoransky appears to be the choice to start when Wall doesn’t since he was named the starter for Saturday’s game against the Orlando Magic. Satoransky also played more consistently than Trey Burke, whose minutes have declined — and we’re just four games into the season.

There’s still another question with Wall’s restriction: Which games in back-to-back sets will he sit out? Candace Buckner of The Washington Post reported that that is a fluid situation:

I’m going to interpret Brooks’ line as coach speak for “In back-to-back sets, I’m playing Wall in the toughest game of the two back-to-back sets.

The Hawks are a favorite to win the Southeast Division, while the Magic aren’t expected to be a playoff team in many NBA projections. Therefore, it made sense to play Wall yesterday and not today.

The Wizards have three sets of back-to-backs remaining in November. They are:

  • Friday, November 11 vs. Cavaliers; Saturday November 12 at Bulls
  • Wednesday, November 16 at 76ers; Thursday, November 17 vs. Knicks
  • Friday, November 25 at Magic; Saturday, November 26 vs. Spurs

If I had to say which games Wall misses, if he rests a game in each set, he will sit out the Bulls game on November 12, the 76ers game on November 16, and the Magic on November 25. The coincidence is that Wall would miss both road games in Orlando, so Wizards fans from the Disney World area won’t get to see Wall do his thing.

It’s a good thing that Wall will rest some games early to prevent injury. But if the Wizards continue to slump in November, this may be put to the test.