As a child, Walker Russell Jr. grew up under the Bad Boys umbrella.
He recalls going to Isiah Thomas’ house for the first time as a child and seeing that the Detroit Pistons legend had his own basketball court. Russell later babysat Thomas’ kids, Joshua and Lauren. His relationship with Rick Mahorn, he says, resembles that of big brother and little brother.
And it was Joe Dumars who eventually opened the door for Russell to achieve his lifelong dream — to follow in his father’s footsteps and put on the jersey of the team that practically raised him.
Midway through the 2011-12 season, Russell was called up from what was then the D-League and made his NBA debut with the Pistons, 30 years after the franchise drafted his father, Pontiac native Walker Russell Sr., in 1982. They are the only father-son duo to play for the Pistons, and both of their NBA careers began and ended with the Pistons.
The younger Russell has returned to Detroit, this time as an assistant coach for the Motor City Cruise. As someone who toiled in the D-League and overseas for several years before finally getting his NBA shot, he’s honored to be able to share his professional experiences — good and bad — with a new generation of players and give back to the team that turned his childhood dream into reality.
“When I made it in 2012, it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Russell told the Free Press on Oct. 3. “Being totally honest, this feeling right now being coach and coming back to my city where I started everything is better than all of that. This right here is the best feeling I ever had, coming home. I get to grind player development, I get to grind with the guys and tell my story, the good and the bad.
“The bad is what I really, really like to harp on because everybody talks about the good in this business. Nobody really talks about how you stay in this business.”
Russell has a longstanding relationship with Cruise president Durand “Speedy” Walker, a Detroit native and longtime Pistons scout who was promoted to lead their G League affiliate this past offseason. Walker is renowned locally as the founder of “The Family” AAU program in 1992. Many of the top basketball players in Michigan have played for The Family, including Miles Bridges, Draymond Green and Cassius Winston.
Walker has known Russell since he was 10 but wasn’t ever able to convince him to join The Family. Born into an NBA family (his uncle is former Michigan standout and NBA star Campy Russell) and surrounded by pros as a child, Russell’s focus during his summers was elsewhere. He still was able to join The Family for practices, though. And Walker leapt at the opportunity to bring Russell on as a coach, more than 30 years after their initial meeting.
“We always had the conversation about hoping to be able to provide an opportunity for him to get out here and coach,” Walker said. “It’s almost like a blessing how things progressed. He paid his dues. It wasn’t as if you had to go and try to rip off, try to challenge and get people to understand who he was. He paid his dues. He was willing to coach at every level. He had to coach in order to get the experience. And he’s always naturally been a leader. It’s a blessing to be able to be in this position to be able to bring him in.”
After graduating from Rochester High School, Russell Jr. played collegiately at Chipola and Jacksonville State before going undrafted in 2006. His professional career began in Czechia and included stops in Spain, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, China, the Dominican Republic and two D-League teams (the Fort Worth Flyers and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants).
He was with the Mad Ants and weighing a return overseas when he received a call from Pistons assistant general manager George David. They desperately needed a point guard after losing Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum to injury. Russell made his debut Jan. 20, 2012, and appeared in 28 games through the remainder of the season. His father played 86 games for the Pistons over four seasons from 1982-88.
Russell’s “humbling story,” as he calls it, took place that summer. He had an opportunity to return to the Pistons but also was drawing interest from the New York Knicks, who signed him to their Summer League team. But he was out of shape during his first workout for them, and pulled his groin. The injury cost him his chance to continue in the NBA, and after a brief stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder during training camp followed by a return to the D League with the Mad Ants and Reno Bighorns, he signed with a team in Venezuela.
“Me and Joe (Dumars) talk about that all the time; Joe said, If you would have just stayed the course, Walker, I would’ve made sure you would’ve been OK in this organization forever,” Russell recalled. “That’s one of the humbling things that I like to tell my story because a lot of people don’t like to tell the bad. I like to tell the bad. Sometimes you need to get your ego out the way and stay humble and just keep grinding and it’ll eventually work out for you.”
He turned to coaching in 2017, spending five years as an associate coach in China with the then-Shenzhen Aviators before joining St. Francis’ basketball program as an assistant, followed by joining the NBA Coaching Development Program in 2024.
Russell is thankful for his journey, the good and the bad. With the Cruise, he’ll train players walking a path he once walked. It’s a second chance he’s grateful for, and is eager to continue advancing his career in Detroit.
“I’m most proud of my second bite of the apple,” he said. “I think a lot of people take that for advantage. Some people think that you’ll always have an opportunity in life, whatever it is. I think my best attribute right now is I never quit. I’ve heard ‘no’ a lot. I’ve heard ‘no’ too many times. I’ve heard ‘you’re not this,’ I’ve heard ‘you’re not that.’ My whole emotion of just keeping fighting through things, that’s my biggest attribute and that’s what I learned.”
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Walker Russell Jr. followed in dad’s footsteps with Detroit Pistons. He’s back as a coach
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
