Know Your Team: Ty Walker
KW Titans
7’0
Centre
From Wilmington, North Carolina
Ty Walker makes Canada the ninth country he has played professional basketball after bringing his talents on defence to the Windsor Express. A top ten-rated prospect while playing for North Hanover High, where he was 2007 state champion and two-time state player of the year. It was this that saw him recruited to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
With Wake Forest, he played in two NCAA Tournaments, reaching the second round in 2010 after an 81-80 overtime win over the Texas Longhorns. As a senior he was named the team's Defensive Player of the Year and finished his Demon Deacons career with an average 2.1 blocks per game - the second best in the team's history behind Tim Duncan.
In his first professional season, 2012-13, Walker played for the Hong Kong Bulls, Kolobrzeg in Poland and French club Limoges. He then joined the NBA D-League team the Maine Red Claws in 2014, averaging 6.5 points on 62% field shooting, as well as 7.4 rebounds and 3.2 blocks before being traded to the Erie Bayhawks.
He began the following season with the Akita Northern Happinets in Japan, before returning to the D-League, appearing in 15 games for the Reno Bighorns. After making 14 starts for Polish club Koszalin in 2015, Walker returned to North America after he was chosen by the Raptors 905 in the D-League expansion draft. He instead suited up for the Iowa Energy, averaging 5.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in eleven games.
Following spells with Farmcochen in Malaysia, Al-Muharraq in Bahrain, Nakorn Phantom Mad Goat in Thailand and Talca in Chile, Walker made his NBL Canada debut in 2019 with the Windsor Express.
It didn't take him long to make his mark, scoring in double digits off the bench in two of his first three games. As the season progressed he was more impressive on defence and made at least one block in his first seven games. On February 28th against the Sudbury Five, Walker recorded his first NBLC double-double, scoring 14 off six-of-six shooting, and grabbing six rebounds as well as making five blocks.
His first NBLC season cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, Walker was next seen with the Little Rock Lightning in The Basketball League and Iskra Svit in Slovakia, where he made three double-doubles in eight appearances. When the NBLC resumed in 2022, Walker set about building on what he started in Windsor with the KW Titans.
He bettered his single-game rebound record with twelve boards against the Lansing Pharoahs, then achieved an other-worldly ten blocks on March 20th at home to the Kokomo Bobkats. He made his first double-double for KW six days later, with ten points and eleven rebounds, along with seven blocks, against the Sudbury Five.
Ty Walker's talents on defence have been allowed to grown and flourish in the NBL Canada and he has been a big asset to every team that has had him as a player in Canada and beyond.
