“I really don’t know the runs of baseball, but it didn’t end as well as we wanted it to,” Wall said, less than 13 hours after Harper struck out to end the game and the Nationals’ best World Series chance in years.

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The local baseball team has not advanced past the NLDS despite making it four times in the last six years. Wall, set to begin his eighth NBA season, can empathize.

“It’s like you get there but you never get over the hump, you know what I mean? So that’s the frustrating part,” Wall said, relating it to his Wizards teams. “I’ve been through that. We’ve been to the second round three times, so that’s my motivation to get over that hump. I definitely want to break that.”

For the Wizards, the opportunity to break through begins with their season opener at home Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Wizards have nurtured three max contract players who represent the heart of what could be the franchise’s best team in decades — and at $123 million, its most expensive. Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter Jr. are entering their fifth year together. Add in stalwarts Marcin Gortat and Markieff Morris, as well as Coach Scott Brooks starting his second year with the team, and the Wizards’ continuity is a distinct strength in an inconstant Eastern Conference.

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“We’re cool with everybody. Everybody gets along,” Beal said about the team’s bond. “There’s no drama. There’s no issues or anything like that. So that just carries right onto the floor. We love each other off the floor. We love each other on the floor.”

The Wizards may be all grown up, but the question remains how much they can continue to evolve. The young core has banged against the second-round ceiling. Partially due to being limited financially in free agency after matching Porter’s max offer sheet, Washington has added nothing substantial that would realistically propel it past the conference darlings, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.

But stability doesn’t have to lead to stasis. Wall believes there is room to grow, specifically, for this core to snap the city’s so-called curse and advance to the conference finals. If so, they would be the first of Washington’s four major sports teams to reach a conference final or championship series since 1998.

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“We can still get better and as individuals, I’ve still got a lot left in my game,” Wall said. “I feel like me getting to the point when I’m finally healthy is going to be even more bigger. Same with [Beal]. When he started being more healthy, it was a totally different team.

“We showed glimpses,” Wall continued. “Now that we’re taking care of our bodies more, being a lot better, the game has opened up even more for us now. Last year, everybody said it was a career year [for me], but I think I’m going to have an even more crazy career year than last year.”

Chemistry set

Continuity can look like this: Wall on the fast break, his eyes fixed on the rim but his mind on the favorite spots of his targets.

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“When John drives, he knows that either me or Brad is in the corner,” Porter said. “You just have to play with each other over a long period of time to get that type of connection or type of chemistry.”

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An Oct. 8 exhibition, only the second game in which the four healthy starters had played in the preseason while Morris recovers from sports hernia surgery, illustrates the damage this team can do. The starting unit spent less than eight minutes building a 38-point first quarter against the Cavaliers.

“If we play together, I mean, we will destroy anybody,” said Gortat, the big man who sets screens at just the right angle for his teammates. “Our chemistry is just too good right now … We understand each other. There’s nothing we’ve got to talk about. Completely nothing.”

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This unspoken connection extends off the court. When they go to Benihana, Wall knows Beal will clean his plate of shrimp. Wall is also keenly aware of Porter’s easygoing personality, which made it unnecessary for the teammates to talk it out this summer after Wall declared his intent to recruit all-star Paul George, who happens to play Porter’s position.

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“I got a bigger picture in mind. I don’t take things personal,” Porter said. “It’s hard to get me upset about anything or talk about anything. Everything rolls off my shoulders.”

Outsiders see this harmony, and place the Wizards as high as a top-three team in the East. But with Wall at 27 and Beal only 24, some envision maturation past the third seed.

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“Obviously Boston and Cleveland are the presumed favorites, but I think there’s no reason to believe [the Wizards] can’t be in that mix,” said a longtime Eastern Conference scout who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn’t given permission to speak publicly. “They’re moving into their primes.”

Dennis Scott has become a believer. Scott, the Maryland native who played 10 years in the league and now works as an “NBA on TNT” reporter and NBA TV analyst, boldly predicted the Wizards will be the East representative in the NBA Finals — if Wall has an MVP-worthy season. Scott even backed up Beal’s statement from May that the Cavaliers didn’t want to face Washington in the playoffs.

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“No question about it. It’s a nightmare matchup [for Cleveland],” Scott said. “When Bradley Beal and John Wall are healthy, they are a nightmare matchup.

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“I love Derrick Rose, I’m still a big fan of his and hope he can turn his career around and get back, but I don’t think Derrick Rose wants some of John Wall right now,” Scott said of the Cavs’ new point guard. “Love Isaiah … [but] Isaiah Thomas don’t want John Wall right now. LeBron doesn’t want to guard John Wall right now.”

Carry that weight



The starting five may have transformed into a “nightmare matchup” for teams, but last year the Wizards’ depth was a horror show.

Washington’s bench was so unstable — six role players who signed with the Wizards last season are no longer with the team — that in the most important game of the year, Brooks wouldn’t dare remove his starters from the floor. During Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Celtics, Wall played the entire second half and wore out, making just 2 of 13 shots in the 115-105 loss.

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“I didn’t expect to play 24 straight minutes. That’s who coach wanted. Whatever he put me through, I’m down with it. I make no excuses when I get between the lines,” Wall said. “I made all those shots the first three quarters, it’s just — like the Celtics said, in the fourth quarter, fatigue kicked in. I’m fine with that because I went out swinging. I went out the way I played the whole playoffs, just giving myself a chance.”

As the front office tried to revamp the bench with veterans-on-a-budget Tim Frazier, Jodie Meeks and Mike Scott, Wall spent the summer preparing himself to carry another heavy load. For Washington to continue growing, Wall believes he must soar into the MVP conversation.

Tucked away in his iPhone’s “Notes” app, for his eyes only, Wall keeps a list of every slight he finds on social media. They are fuel for him. Following the Wizards falling in Game 7, he read: “John Wall couldn’t do this. John Wall couldn’t get over this hump.” He filed it away, then tapped out a reminder to himself: “I gave it everything I had. Get in the best shape possible.”

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After Game 7, Wall rested for one week before signing up for spin class and boxing lessons. He drilled with basketball skills trainer Rob McClanaghan. The day after the news conference celebrating his four-year, $170 million contract extension, Wall was back working out at the Wizards’ practice facility. When he finally took a break in the Bahamas later in the summer, he still rode his bicycle around paradise.

For the first time in many years, Wall experienced the benefits of good health last season, leading to his “career year.”

“I fell in love with working out,” Wall said. “In the past, I loved working out but I couldn’t because it would take me two hours to prepare for a workout [due to treatment for injuries]. So, if I wanted to come back to the gym and work out at 8, I had to go there at 6 to prepare myself. Now, it’s like a 10-15 minute stretch, you just do a routine and get my work in.”

Wall has dubbed this his “#Wolfseason” — potentially the best chance in his career to advance past the second round. After the Nationals’ ouster, Wall came across a graphic on social media highlighting Washington’s sports futility. His image was included on the ignominious Mount Rushmore, alongside Harper, Kirk Cousins and Alex Ovechkin, the four current leaders of the local franchises.

Wall clicked “like” — his way of announcing his intention of shattering the city’s curse, and the Wizards’ second-round ceiling.

“It’s just more pressure on me, which I love,” Wall said. “It’s just more motivation for me. I’m fine with that. I want to break it.”