Darrell Walker (born March 9, 1961) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach and retired professional player. He is currently head men's coach at the

University of Arkansas at Little Rock The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) is a public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the institution became a private four-year ...

. At 6'4" (1.93 m) and 180 lb (82 kg), he played as a

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. He attended

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's Corliss High School.

Playing career

After playing

at Westark Community College (now the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith) and the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkans ...

, Walker was selected by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

with the 12th pick in the first round of the 1983 NBA draft. Over a ten-year career, he played for five teams—the Knicks, the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

, the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

, and the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

. Walker is a member of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, cree ...

fraternity. Walker was selected to the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

NBA All-Rookie team, and was among the league leaders during his career in assists and steals. His best season was in 1989–90 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

Walker has served as head coach for two different teams—the Toronto Raptors and the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

. He was the Raptors' second coach, following

Brendan Malone Brendan Thomas Malone (born April 21, 1942) is an American basketball coach. Early life Malone grew up in Astoria, Queens in New York City and graduated from Rice High School. Malone's father, also named Brendan, unloaded freight cars for the R ...

, and led the team for a season and a half. In 2000, he replaced the fired

Gar Heard Garfield Heard (born May 3, 1948) is an American retired professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiately at the University of Oklahoma and was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the third round of the 1970 NBA draft. He had ...

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 James Leonard Hamilton (born August 4, 1948) is an American basketball coach and the current men's basketball head coach at Florida State University. He is a former head coach at Oklahoma State University, the University of Miami, and for the Nat ...

the next year. Later that same year, he was named the interim head coach of the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded pri ...

of the WNBA, replacing

Nancy Darsch Nancy Darsch (December 29, 1951 – November 2, 2020) was an American women's basketball coach who worked at both the professional and NCAA Division I college levels. A native of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Darsch was a 1973 graduate of Springfield ...

who resigned during the season. 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

, where he was on staff until 2014. Walker was named the head coach at

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Foun ...

in 2016. In two seasons with the Panthers, Walker guided the team to a 45–18 overall record a SIAC conference tournament championship, and two appearances in the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

Tournament. On March 27, 2018, Walker was named the head men's basketball coach at the

Head coaching record

NBA

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Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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WNBA

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College

References

External links

Basketball-Reference.com: Darrell Walker (as player)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Darrell 1961 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Arkansas–Fort Smith Lions basketball players Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Chicago Chicago Bulls players Clark Atlanta Panthers men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Continental Basketball Association coaches Denver Nuggets players Detroit Pistons assistant coaches Detroit Pistons players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Little Rock Trojans men's basketball coaches New Orleans Hornets assistant coaches New York Knicks assistant coaches New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players Shooting guards Toronto Raptors assistant coaches Toronto Raptors head coaches Washington Bullets players Washington Mystics head coaches Washington Wizards executives Washington Wizards head coaches