Darrell Walker (born March 9, 1961) is an American college basketball coach and retired professional player. He was most recently head men's coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Walker played in National Basketball Association (NBA) for 10 seasons, winning an NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1993. He played college basketball for Westark Community College and the Arkansas Razorbacks.
 Walker in 2013 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 9, 1961 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6ย ft 4ย in (1.93ย m) |
| Listed weight | 180ย lb (82ย kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Corliss (Chicago, Illinois) |
| College |
|
| NBA draft | 1983: 1st round, 12th overall pick |
| Drafted by | New York Knicks |
| Playing career | 1983โ1993 |
| Position | Point guard / shooting guard |
| Number | 4, 5, 20 |
| Career history | |
Playing | |
| 1983โ1986 | New York Knicks |
| 1986โ1987 | Denver Nuggets |
| 1988โ1991 | Washington Bullets |
| 1991โ1992 | Detroit Pistons |
| 1993 | Chicago Bulls |
Coaching | |
| 1995โ1996 | Toronto Raptors (assistant) |
| 1996โ1998 | Toronto Raptors |
| 1999โ2000 | Rockford Lightning |
| 2000 | Washington Wizards |
| 2000 | Washington Mystics (interim) |
| 2004โ2008 | New Orleans Hornets (assistant) |
| 2008โ2011 | Detroit Pistons (assistant) |
| 2012โ2014 | New York Knicks (assistant) |
| 2016โ2018 | Clark Atlanta |
| 2018โ2026 | Little Rock |
| Career highlights | |
As player:
As coach:
| |
| Career statistics | |
| Points | 6,389 (8.9 ppg) |
| Assists | 3,276 (4.6 apg) |
| Steals | 1,090 (1.5 spg) |
| Stats at NBA.comย | |
| Stats at Basketball Referenceย | |
Playing career
editAfter graduating from Chicago's Corliss High School, Walker played college basketball at Westark Community College (now the University of ArkansasโFort Smith) and the University of Arkansas. He was selected by the New York Knicks with the 12th pick in the first round of the 1983 NBA draft. Over a ten-year career, he played for five teamsโthe Knicks, the Denver Nuggets, the Washington Bullets, the Detroit Pistons, and the Chicago Bulls. Walker is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Walker was selected to the 1984 NBA All-Rookie team, and was among the league leaders during his career in assists and steals. His best season was in 1989โ90 with the Washington Bullets when he averaged 9.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. He won an NBA title with the Chicago Bulls in his final season.
Coaching career
editWalker has served as head coach for two different teamsโthe Toronto Raptors and the Washington Wizards. He was the Raptors' second coach, following Brendan Malone, and led the team for a season and a half. In 2000, he replaced the fired[1] Gar Heard in Washington for half a season (the first coaching "call-up" in history, having previously been the coach of the Rockford Lightning of the CBA), but was then replaced by Leonard Hamilton the next year. Later that same year, he was named the interim head coach of the Washington Mystics of the WNBA, replacing Nancy Darsch who resigned during the season.[2] He remained in Washington as director of player personnel and later head scout before joining the Hornets as assistant coach.
In March 2012, Walker became an assistant coach with the New York Knicks, where he was on staff until 2014.[3]
College
editWalker was named the head coach at Clark Atlanta University in 2016.[4] In two seasons with the Panthers, Walker guided the team to a 45โ18 overall record a SIAC conference tournament championship, and two appearances in the NCAA Division II tournament.
On March 27, 2018, Walker was named the head men's basketball coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.[5] Walker coached for the Trojans for eight seasons, being fired by UALR on March 6, 2026 after a season with a 12โ20 record.[6]
Career playing statistics
edit| ย ย GP | Games played | ย ย GSย | Games started | ย MPGย | Minutes per game |
| ย FG%ย | Field goal percentage | ย 3P%ย | 3-point field goal percentage | ย FT%ย | Free throw percentage |
| ย RPGย | Rebounds per game | ย APGย | Assists per game | ย SPGย | Steals per game |
| ย BPGย | Blocks per game | ย PPGย | Points per game | ย Boldย | Career high |
| ย โ ย | Won an NBA championship | ย *ย | Led the league |
NBA
editSource[7]
Regular season
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983โ84 | New York | 82* | 0 | 16.1 | .417 | .267 | .791 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 1.5 | .2 | 7.9 |
| 1984โ85 | New York | 82* | 66 | 30.4 | .435 | .000 | .700 | 3.4 | 5.0 | 2.0 | .3 | 13.5 |
| 1985โ86 | New York | 81 | 35 | 25.0 | .430 | .000 | .686 | 2.7 | 4.2 | 1.8 | .4 | 10.3 |
| 1986โ87 | Denver | 81 | 25 | 24.9 | .482 | .000 | .745 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 1.5 | .5 | 12.2 |
| 1987โ88 | Washington | 52 | 0 | 18.1 | .392 | .000 | .781 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 1.2 | .2 | 6.0 |
| 1988โ89 | Washington | 79 | 78 | 32.5 | .420 | .000 | .772 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 2.0 | .3 | 9.0 |
| 1989โ90 | Washington | 81 | 81 | 35.6 | .454 | .095 | .687 | 8.8 | 8.0 | 1.7 | .4 | 9.5 |
| 1990โ91 | Washington | 71 | 65 | 32.5 | .430 | .000 | .604 | 7.0 | 6.5 | 1.1 | .5 | 7.8 |
| 1991โ92 | Detroit | 74 | 4 | 20.8 | .423 | .000 | .619 | 3.2 | 2.8 | .9 | .2 | 5.2 |
| 1992โ93 | Detroit | 9 | 2 | 16.0 | .158 | .000 | .333 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | .0 | .9 |
| 1992โ93โ | Chicago | 28 | 0 | 13.1 | .403 | โ | .500 | 1.4 | 1.6 | .8 | .1 | 2.6 |
| Career | 720 | 356 | 25.8 | .435 | .059 | .713 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 1.5 | .3 | 8.9 | |
Playoffs
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | New York | 12 | 16.3 | .370 | โ | .609 | 2.9 | 1.7 | 2.0 | .2 | 6.8 | |
| 1987 | Denver | 3 | 3 | 22.7 | .324 | โ | .571 | 3.3 | 1.7 | .7 | .0 | 8.7 |
| 1988 | Washington | 5 | 0 | 31.0 | .407 | .000 | .688 | 4.8 | 2.8 | 1.4 | .8 | 11.0 |
| 1992 | Detroit | 5 | 0 | 13.6 | .333 | โ | 1.000 | 2.4 | .8 | .2 | .0 | 2.0 |
| 1993โ | Chicago | 9 | 0 | 2.4 | .250 | โ | .667 | .1 | .6 | .0 | .0 | .4 |
| Career | 34 | 3 | 14.9 | .368 | .000 | .645 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 1.0 | .2 | 5.2 | |
Head coaching record
editNBA
edit| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | WโLย % | Winโlossย % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PWโLย % | Playoff winโlossย % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | WโL% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PWโL% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 1996โ97 | 82 | 30 | 52 | .366 | 8th in Central | โ | โ | โ | โ | Missed Playoffs |
| Toronto | 1997โ98 | 49 | 11 | 38 | .224 | (fired) | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ |
| Washington | 1999โ00 | 38 | 15 | 23 | .395 | 7th in Atlantic | โ | โ | โ | โ | Missed Playoffs |
| Career | 169 | 56 | 113 | .331 | โ | โ | โ | โ |
WNBA
edit| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | WโLย % | Winโlossย % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PWโLย % | Playoff winโlossย % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | WโL% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PWโL% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | 2000 | 12 | 5 | 7 | .417 | 4th in East | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | Lost in Conference semifinals |
| Career | 12 | 5 | 7 | .417 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
College
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clark Atlanta Panthers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (2016โ2018) | |||||||||
| 2016โ17 | Clark Atlanta | 21โ12 | 12โ5 | 2nd (East) | NCAA Division II First Round | ||||
| 2017โ18 | Clark Atlanta | 24โ6 | 16โ3 | 2nd (East) | NCAA Division II First Round | ||||
| Clark Atlanta: | 45โ18 (.714) | 28โ8 (.778) | |||||||
| Little Rock Trojans (Sun Belt Conference) (2018โ2022) | |||||||||
| 2018โ19 | Little Rock | 10โ21 | 5โ13 | Tโ11th | |||||
| 2019โ20 | Little Rock | 21โ10 | 15โ5 | 1st | No postseason held | ||||
| 2020โ21 | Little Rock | 11โ15 | 7โ11 | 5th (West) | |||||
| 2021โ22 | Little Rock | 9โ19 | 3โ11 | 12th | |||||
| Little Rock Trojans (Ohio Valley Conference) (2022โ2026) | |||||||||
| 2022โ23 | Little Rock | 10โ21 | 6โ12 | Tโ8th | |||||
| 2023โ24 | Little Rock | 21โ13 | 14โ4 | Tโ1st | CBI First Round | ||||
| 2024โ25 | Little Rock | 19โ14 | 12โ8 | Tโ3rd | |||||
| 2025โ26 | Little Rock | 12โ20 | 9โ11 | 7th | |||||
| Little Rock: | 113โ133 (.459) | 61โ71 (.462) | |||||||
| Total: | 158โ151 (.511) | ||||||||
|
ย ย ย ย ย ย National championย ย
ย ย ย ย ย ย Postseason invitational championย ย
| |||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Washington fires head coach Gar Heard". CNN. January 31, 2000.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ White, Joseph (July 15, 2000). "Darsch quits as Mystics coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
- ^ "Jim Todd, Darrell Walker join Knicks interim coach Mike Woodson's staff as assistants". The Washington Post. Associated Press. March 17, 2012. Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
- ^ "Clark Atlanta University Athletics". Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
- ^ "Darrell Walker Named Head Men's Basketball Coach". lrtrojans.com. March 27, 2018.
- ^ Harley, Michael (March 6, 2026). "University of Arkansas-Little Rock fires men's basketball Coach Darrell Walker". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
- ^ "Darrell Walker". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
