Wally Walker - Front Office

Front Office

Following the 1993-94 NBA season, Walker was named by Ackerley to be President and General Manager of the team. The Sonics continued to be successful for the next four seasons with a roster built primarily around Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins, Nate McMillan and Hersey Hawkins, with Hawkins as a Walker acquisition. In 1997-98, the Sonics won the Pacific Division with a record of 61-21 and Walker finished second in Executive of the Year voting.

During the 2003 season, Walker engineered a trade with the Bucks for star guard Ray Allen, along with Flip Murray, Kevin Ollie and a first-round pick that became Luke Ridnour, to the Sonics for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason. The team won the Pacific Division both years, 1996–1997 and 1997-1998 – the 1998 team was a complete rebuild with only three players remaining from the previous year’s roster.

In 2002, the Sonics team was built on a payroll that was below the league average yet yielded a return-on-investment that was among the league’s best in terms of dollars per win. Over a six-year period, the Sonics average cost per win was the 8th best in the league at $1.1 million per victory, including a low of $850 thousand per victory for the 1999-2000 season. During the six-season stretch between 1998–99 and 2003-04 seasons, however, the Sonics made the playoffs twice, getting eliminated in the first round each time.

In 2004-05 the Sonics won the Northwest Division with a record of 52-30, the fourth Division Title that the Sonics won while Walker was team President, with a roster composed exclusively of players he acquired. During the twelve seasons that he held the title of team President, the Sonics had the fifth-best winning percentage (59%) in the NBA, behind only the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers. The Sonics' winning percentage between 1998–2006, dipped to 51.7%. Sonic drafts between 1998 and 2003 were rated the best in the NBA by The New York Times, though some of the talent was traded or allowed to leave as free agents, such as Desmond Mason, Bobby Simmons, Earl Watson, Corey Maggette, and Willie Green. During his 12 years as president, the Sonics selected future NBA starters and reserves Eric Snow, Mark Blount, Earl Watson and Mikael Gelabale, all in the second round. He signed free agents including Terry Cummings, Aaron Williams, Ruben Patterson, Reggie Evans, Antonio Daniels and Damien Wilkins, many of whom later signed higher contracts after moving on from the Sonics. Over 12 years, while never drafting higher than the 10th pick, Walker supervised the drafting of Rashard Lewis, who became an All-Star in 2005. Walker had at least one All Star on the Sonics' roster each of his 12 years as President. He also served as President of the WNBA Seattle Storm, who won the WNBA championship in 2004.

During the 2005 offseason, following the franchise's first 50-win season in 7 years, popular head coach and former Sonic player Nate McMillan signed a contract with a Northwest rival, the Portland Trail Blazers. A month earlier with the blessing of the Sonics organization, long-time assistant Dwayne Casey, a potential successor as head coach if McMillan were not to re-sign, agreed to be the coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Walker and then-GM Rick Sund eventually filled the vacancy with assistant Bob Weiss. Weiss was fired in January of the following season, after going only 13-17. Walker and Sund replaced Weiss with assistant Bob Hill, who coached the team to a 22-30 record.

Wally’s seven-year tenure as GM of the Sonics has proven to be among Seattle's most successful. During the regular season, Wally's winning percentage exceeded 65%, including five playoff appearances and one trip to the NBA finals (1996). This winning percentage is the highest of any GM of a major Seattle team in the city’s history, including the Seahawks, Mariners, Sonics and Storm. His teams’ postseason performance is also impressive – ranking fourth in overall postseason winning percentage with 51% (Tim Ruskell, Seahawks 57%; Zollie Volchok, Sonics 55%; Rick Sund, Sonics 55%).

Walker was part of five of the Sonics’ six division-winning teams: one as a player (1978–79); four as team president (1995–96, 1996-97 1997-98, 2004–05). And he is one of only two people—player, coach, and/or member of the front office or staff—to be part of all three of the Sonics’ Western Conference Championship seasons (1977–78, 1978–79 and 1995–96); the other person is trainer Frank Furtado.