Cleveland Cavaliers: 15 greatest draft steals in franchise history

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Foots Walker, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

player. 156. . PG. West Georgia Wolves, 1974 (No. 38). Foots Walker. 13

Six seasons w/Cavaliers (1974-80)
427 career games w/Cavaliers
7.2 points, 5.0 assists, 3.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals per game w/Cavaliers

Foots Walker came to the Cavaliers as a third-round pick out of West Georgia in the 1974 NBA Draft. The No. 38 overall pick that summer would spend his of his 10 NBA seasons playing for the team that drafted him to play point guard.

No, Walker was never an All-Star, nor was he even an All-Rookie level player during his first year in the league. What he was for the Cavaliers was a model of consistency in the backcourt for the latter half of the 1970s. By year four in the league, Walker would establishing starting-level minutes in the Cleveland rotation, going on to have his best three-year stretch of his NBA career.

Walker averaged at least 9.0 points per game each season from 1977-78 to 1979-80 with Cleveland. He set a career high in scoring with 10.1 points per game in 1978-79. In what was his final season with the Cavaliers, Walker set career highs in assists with 8.0 per game and rebounds with 3.8 per contest.

Though his numbers in Cleveland uniform have been lost to time, Walker’s long-lasting legacy with the Cavaliers is being the first player to ever record a triple-double in a game. On Dec. 2, 1979 versus the Atlanta Hawks, Walker had 15 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in an 18-point victory for Cleveland over Atlanta.

Shortly before the start of the 1980-81 NBA season, Walker was traded to the then-New Jersey Nets for shooting guard Roger Phegley. Walker would make the playoffs twice with New Jersey, but was no longer a starting-level player for his new club. He would then be traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1983, but never played for them.

Overall, Walker averaged 7.2 points, 5.0 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game in 427 career contests with the Cavaliers. Though never much of a scoring threat, Walker was adept at distributing the basketball throughout his NBA career. Given that he played half-a-dozen seasons with the Cavaliers as a former third-round pick, plus being the man responsible for the first triple-double in Cleveland history, Walker’s spot at No. 13 is totally justified.