Former KU Jayhawks guard Rex Walters lands assistant coaching job with NBA team
Former University of Kansas basketball guard Rex Walters has been hired as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Pelicans, the NBA team has announced.
Walters served as an assistant coach under new Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy in Detroit during the 2017-18 NBA season. Prior to that, he was head coach of the Pistons’ G League team in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“It’s very exciting, getting to work for Stan Van Gundy. You know how I feel about Stan’s ability to get the most out of his teams. It’s going to be fun to be part of it here and hopefully add something to it,” Walters said Tuesday in a phone interview from the Pelicans’ practice facility in New Orleans.
Walters, the 16th overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft, played in the NBA for seven seasons — with the New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat.
“There are some really good people here in New Orleans,” said the 50-year-old Walters. He most recently worked at Wake Forest University as an associate head coach on the coaching staff of former KU player and assistant coach Danny Manning. “We’ve got some great young talent and veteran leadership on this team.”
On Monday, the Pelicans announced the hiring of Walters as well as Bob Beyer and Casey Hill as assistant coaches, along with Corey Brewer and Beno Udrih as player development coaches. Teresa Weatherspoon was promoted to assistant coach and Darnell Lazare player development coach. Fred Vinson is also on Van Gundy’s staff as an assistant.
“We’ll be talking more about that today. I think they (job duties) will be more on the player development side,” said Walters, who stated he will sit behind the bench at games.
In his career, the 1993 KU graduate also coached eight seasons as head coach at the University of San Francisco and two seasons as head coach at Florida Atlantic. He’s been an assistant at Nevada and Valparaiso.
“The West is a beast,” Walters said of the NBA’s Western Conference. “It’s going to be exciting, I want to do what I can to help these guys achieve big-time goals. We’ve got a great staff, from player development side to the top. I always want to be learning and getting better and that can happen for me here. I’m fortunate to be here.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Former KU Jayhawks guard Rex Walters lands assistant coaching job with NBA team."
