NICKNAME/S: Waxy

BIO: Born and raised in Launceston, Tasmania, Walker attended West Launceston Primary School, Riverside High School and Launceston College. Walker received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2004. He spent one year there and played for the program’s state league team.

FAMILY: Walker is the son of Robert and Sharyn, and has a sister named Ashleigh.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Lucas Walker made his NBL debut with the Melbourne Tigers at 25 years of age. He scored six points in his first game.

In 2010/11 Walker averaged 5.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.8 assists as a rookie. The Melbourne Tigers would finish with a record of 10-18 that season and fail to make the playoffs finishing seventh during the regular season.

2011/12
With the NBA going through a lock-out season during the 2011/12 NBL season, the Melbourne Tigers signed NBA free agent and Australian Boomers player Patrick Mills who became the first ‘active’ NBA player to compete in the NBL.

Mills was a late signing for the club who had already filled their roster, which included signing Ayinde Ubaka, Ron Dorsey and Daniel Dillon from Cairns and gutting the Taipans Roster. In order to make room for Mills, the team was forced to release long-time guard Daryl Corletto, who later signed with New Zealand.

Mills then played the first nine games of the season (averaging 19 points and 5 assists) before leaving to play in China.

Also this season Tommy Greer would be named the new Tigers captain while Cam Tragardh lead the team in scoring with 16.3 points per game and go on to be named club MVP.

After Mills’ exit, they would replace him with Myron Allen and go on to finish sixth place during the regular season with a 11-17 record. Walker would average 5.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in his second year in the league as the Tigers failed to make the playoffs for the third year in a row.

2012/13
In 2012/13 Walker averaged 7.5 points and 5.1 rebounds helping the Tigers finished with a 12-16 record in the regular season, tying with the Sydney Kings in fourth place. With the NBL tie-breaker system based on the results of the games played between the team’s during the season to determine the order of seeding. The two team’s had won two games a piece from their four games against each other but Sydney earned the finals spot but having a points percentage of +2 over the Tigers. This saw Melbourne drop to fifth place and fail to reach the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.

2013/14
During the 2013/14 season, Walker averaged 8.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists and was a part of the Tigers squad which finished in third place with a record of 15-13. They would go on to lose to Adelaide in the semifinals (1–2).

2014/15 – TIGERS BECOME UNITED
On 20 May 2014, the franchise was re-branded as Melbourne United. The change was a attempt to move away from the Melbourne Tigers junior program which was a team synonymous with ‘poaching’ young talent from other junior programs in Victoria and had negative connotations with much of Victoria’s basketball community. The name, attempting to symbolise a connection to all of Victorian basketball was a decision made by owner Larry Kestelman.

The team retained head coach Chris Anstey and added Tigers legend Daryl Corletto who had spent three years with the New Zealand Breakers. Australian Boomers players David Barlow, who had spent the past five years in Europe and Daniel Kickert signed on with the club as long time captain of the club Tommy Greer retired.

The team retained their Tigers core of Walker, Mark Worthington and Nate Tomlinson who were all chosen to share the captaincy this season and their last move was to complement the squad by signing their import talent, adding Jordan McRae and Stephen Dennis.

Adam Ballinger, who had signed a two-year deal the previous season, was a part of the team up until the week before the season when United chose to release him. a unfavorable situation for Ballinger as every other NBL team had completed their rosters, leaving Ballinger nowhere to negotiate. He was eventually signed by Illawarra and played the remainder of the season with the Hawks.

United’s inaugural season began with a loss to Cairns (89–61) which saw coach Chris Anstey resign and replaced by his assistant Darryl McDonald. Walker would average 5.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists as United went on to finish the season in fifth place (13–15), missing out on the playoffs.

ADELAIDE 36ERS
2015/16
During the 2015/16 season Walker signed with the 36ers as a free agent and started in 24 out of 28 games, averaging 5.3 points and 4.9 rebounds. The 36ers would finish in fifth place with a record of 14-14.

PERTH WILDCATS
2016/17
With Adelaide deciding to replace Walker with a third import (Eric Jacobsen) he spent the pre-season trialling with the Brisbane Bullets but after failing to earn a contract there, Walker returned home Melbourne without a NBL contract. He began training with Melbourne United, patiently waiting for a NBL opportunity to pop up and the following week was offered a two-month injury replacement deal from the Perth Wildcats to cover for the NBL’s leading rebounder Matthew Knight who suffered a shoulder injury in the final weeks of pre-season.

Lucas Walker trained with his new teammates for the first time this morning. pic.twitter.com/p8JjsetckU

— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) September 12, 2016

The 2016 off-season had seen a lot of change in personnel, with three key players from the 16 championship team (Nathan Jawai, Tom Jervis and Jermaine Beal) moving on. To replace them, coach Trevor Gleeson brought in Angus Brandt, Jameel McKay and Jaron Johnson and headed into the 2016/17 season attempting to secure the team’s first back-to-back championships since 1991.

After adding Walker, the Wildcats started the season off strong with a 4–1 record, but things went south quickly after that. On 23 October 2016, Martin recorded a career-high 13 rebounds in a 72–69 win over Melbourne United. During the game, he received a heavy knock to the head, with x-rays revealing a fracture to the left side of his jaw. Consequently, he was ruled out for two weeks of action. He returned after missing just one game but sustained another injury, this time a grade three MCL tear in his left knee against Adelaide (5 Nov 16) and was subsequently ruled out for 10 to 12 weeks.

the Wildcat’s slumped to the last spot in December with a 7–9 record as the team’s long-term injuries to Martin, Knight and Jarrod Kenny hurt the Wildcats.

Import Jaron Johnson would take the brunt of the Wildcats’ poor start, and he was axed just three games into the season and replaced with three-point specialist Andre Ingram.

In a bizarre twist, Ingram left the team and returned to the US after just two games, citing mental issues, and Johnson was brought back into the team. It was at this time Perth legend Shawn Redhage announced that the 2016/17 season would be his last.

Johnson’s reinstatement was a temporary solution, and he was shown the door again in December with the Wildcats seizing the opportunity to sign former NBA guard Bryce Cotton.

On 20 October 2016, after Knight was given the all-clear to return to action, Walker was removed from the active 11-man playing roster.

Despite the roller-coaster of roster changes Prather continued to carry the offensive load, including a career-high 39 point performance in a 92–89 win over Melbourne United on December 9th.

In early February, Prather had another big weekend, first scoring 29 points in a 101–74 win over the Sydney Kings. Then two days later, he recorded 26 points and a career-high 11 assist in a 96–94 win over United.

With the addition of Cotton and the return of Martin in January, the Wildcat’s went on to win eight of their remaining twelve regular-season games. On 28 January, in his 250th NBL game, Martin scored a season-high 11 points to go with six rebounds, and four assists in a 73–71 win over Melbourne. Walker averaged 1 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.5 assists as the team squeezed into the play-offs after winning two must win games to finish third on the ladder with a 15–13 record.

the Wildcats would then defeat the Cairns Taipans in the semifinals and go on to win their second straight championship with a 3–0 series sweep of the Illawarra Hawks.

Prior to the NBL Finals Prather was named in the All-NBL First Team, and finished second in NBL MVP voting (107 votes) behind Jerome Randle (147) of the Adelaide 36ers.

The Wildcats went back-to-back for the first time since 1990/1991, while Gleeson became the first coach to guide the Wildcat’s to back-to-back championships. Grand Final MVP Bryce Cotton also etched his name in the record books after exploding for 45 points, the most ever scored in a NBL Grand Final game in the deciding game 3. His 27.7 points per game over the Grand Final series marked the most from any player in 20 years.

Despite being unable to return to the court for the Wildcats for the remainder of the 2016/17 season, Walker remained a big part of the playing group, completed every training session and excelled in his community work off the court. He was subsequently a member of the championship-winning team in March 2017, and at the Wildcat’s MVP Ball, he was named the recipient of the Coaches’ Award.

Additionally, Redhage would depart the NBL as one of the Wildcats’ all-time great players, finishing his career with 393 games to his name—380 with the Perth Wildcats (second on the team’s all-time games-played list)—while finishing with 5,819 points and 2,153 rebounds.

2017/18
The Wildcats were able to re-sign Grand Final MVP Bryce Cotton for the 2017/18 season but lost two-time Club MVP, Casey Prather who was unable to commit to the Wildcats season due to pursuing NBA opportunities. Perth would replace him with Devondrick Walker in the meantime, leaving Prather with no place on the roster after he had exhausted his NBA options. Unable to play with the Wildcats, he signed a contract to play with Melbourne.

In a bizarre twist Walker then suffered a foot injury during the pre-season and was replaced by JP Tokoto without having ever played a regular season game. Other changes to the roster included Derek Cooke Jr. coming in to replace the outgoing Jameel McKay, and Lucas Walker stepping up from a training player role to a full-time squad member in place of the retired Shawn Redhage. On 8 December 2017, Walker had 12 points and 16 rebounds in a 88–79 win over the Adelaide 36ers. Twelve of his 16 rebounds were offensive, the most ever recorded in the NBL’s 40-minute era.

Around this time, Matthew Knight made it public that he would retire at the end of the 2017/18 season, but as a result of three early-season head knocks, Knight brought forth his retirement in early November.

The Wildcats started the season 10–3, as they sat atop the ladder following Round 9, but in December, Damian Martin was ruled out for a number of games with an ankle injury.

Injuries saw the team drop to 13–9 in mid-January, then finish the regular season in third place with a 16–12 record, with Walker delivering one of the best NBL seasons of his career, averaging 8.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists for the season.

On the eve of their finals campaign, Martin was named the league’s Best Defensive Player, earning the honour for a record-breaking sixth time and Cotton was named league MVP, becoming just the third Wildcat to win the award after Paul Rogers (2000) and Kevin Lisch (2012). Cotton also earned All-NBL First Team honours while Tokoto earned a spot on the All-NBL Second Team.

In game one of the semi finals series against second-seeded Adelaide 36ers, the Wildcats were soundly defeated (109–74) in what was their second biggest finals loss in club history. The only time the Wildcat’s have lost by a larger margin in their 32-year finals streak was in 1989, when they lost to North Melbourne by 55 points. Game two saw a much closer contents but Perth fell short by one point (88–89), ending this season prematurely.

CAIRNS TAIPANS
2018/19
After winning gold at the Commonwealth Games with the Boomers Walker signed a deal to play with Cairns in for the 2018/19 season. This season, Cairns chose to go in a new direction, parting with long-time coach Aaron Fearne after eight years of him patrolling the sidelines. Mike Kelly was brought in as his replacement and was tasked with rebuilding a roster that had already lost key players Cameron Gliddon (to Brisbane), Mitchell McCarron (to Melbourne), Jarrad Weeks (to New Zealand), and Stephen Weigh (retired).

With only a short time before the season kicked off, Kelly bolstered the roster by adding free agent Rob Loe (via New Zealand) and a new import trio consisting of Melo Trimble, Devon Hall, and DJ Newbill, while Nathan Jawai, Alex Loughton, and Jarrod Kenny were retained for their experience and leadership.

Cairns started the season with a dominant victory over Brisbane (88-70) in their opening game, but consistency soon became an issue. The team endured a six-game losing streak between 21 October and 9 November 2018. Despite these struggles, the Taipans managed some impressive wins later in the season, including a surprise victory over Perth (81-79) and a dominant win over Brisbane (109-80), but an inability to consistently win at home (3-11) or away (3-11) saw them finish the season dead last.

Walker (6.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists) provided versatility off the bench for the Taipans, contributing solid minutes as a forward. Following his success with the Australian national team, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2018, Walker’s athleticism and ability to score, rebound, and defend made him a key rotation player throughout the season.

Walker’s best games this season included a 16-point, 9-rebound performance against New Zealand (24 Jan 2019), a 12-point, 6-rebound, 1-assist effort against Perth (31 Dec 2018), and an 11-point, 3-rebound, 2-assist, 3-steal game against Adelaide (23 Nov 2018).

The lack of pre-season preparation and large roster turnover prevented the Taipans from building momentum, leading to one of the worst records in franchise history (6-22).

SYDNEY KINGS
2019/20
Walker joined the Sydney Kings for the 2019/20 season. The team suffered a major injury set-back when Kevin Lisch suffered a left ankle fracture in Round 2 of the season and was subsequently ruled out for two months. He returned to action in Round 10, but further ankle soreness saw him miss the next six rounds. He returned to the lineup once again on February 1 against the Perth Wildcats after two months on the sidelines. He played the final three games of the regular season to help the Kings finish in first-place (20–8). Walker would see limited minutes during the season and average 1.5 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.1 assist.

Sydney went on to defeat Melbourne in the semifinals (2-1), and would face off against Perth in the Grand Final.

Game one saw the Kings lose a nail biter (86-88), with Lisch (17 points) leading the team in scoring. As the team’s prepared for game two in Perth, it was decided that the remaining games would all take place with no fans in the building. Without a single fan in the building, the Kings evened the series (1-1) thanks to Jae’Sean Tate (21 points) nailing seven of his nine shots and Andrew Bogut (24 points and 14 rebounds) having one of his best games of the season.

In game three of the grand final series against the Sydney Kings, Kay (30 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists) delivered a career high scoring effort, including seven three-pointers alongside Cotton (31 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists) to propel Perth to a game three victory (111–96).

Prior to game four, the Sydney Kings chose to withdraw from the series due to uncertainties of the coronavirus and travel restrictions. With multiple Kings players based overseas, many were concerned the restrictions would prevent any return home. After a week spent deliberating, it was decided Perth would be awarded the championship due to holding a 2-1 lead at the time, securing their tenth title. After averaging 30.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists over the three games, Cotton was named Grand Final MVP for the second time in four years, becoming the first player in Wildcats history to be named league MVP, Grand Final MVP and win a championship all in the same season.

Walker announced his retirement from the NBL on 1 February 2021.

Lucas Walker played ten seasons across five NBL teams. This included the Melbourne Tigers, Melbourne United, Cairns Taipans, Perth Wildcats, Adelaide 36ers and Sydney Kings. He averaged 6 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 240 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (811 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.