Just who is Tyrone Wallace? Less than two weeks after making his NBA debut, he's helped the Los Angeles Clippers to a season best six game winning streak.
But all his success has been 21 years in the making and like any kid, it started with a dream. "He was two years old when he first got a ball and started bouncing it," said Tyrone's mother, Michelle Johnson. "He always said he wanted to be a basketball player."
"I knew I wanted to pursue this it's a dream come true to finally be here and be playing," Wallace told 23ABC before playing the Nuggets in his 7th NBA game. Born into a basketball family, with mom Michelle playing at Bakersfield College & father Tyrone Sr. at Bakersfield High, Wallace carried on the family legacy.
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"He was very talented. Very intelligent," said his high school coach Greg Burt. "It was fun to have him and coach him for the time that I had him." After four years at BHS, Wallace left as Bakersfield's all-time leading scorer.
From Bakersfield to Berkeley, Wallace kept making his mark on the court. He is the only Cal player to rank among the school's all time top-ten in scoring, assists and steals. #BFB can be seen on Wallace's Instagram and his family says the hashtag stands for "Ball for Buddy", the nickname they gave to his grandfather. To honor his grandfather's wishes, he stayed all four years to complete his college degree.
In July of 2016, sitting with his family in Bakersfield, he watched the NBA Draft. "It was the last pick and I saw him crying and I was like maybe my son's not going to make it," Johnson said. "The next thing you know they say his name and it was just so...It was just happy."
With the final pick in the 2016 #NBADraft, we select Tyrone Wallace (PG - Cal) at #60. Welcome to Utah, Tyrone! pic.twitter.com/CW1PNAfkuF
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) June 24, 2016
He was drafted with the 60th pick in the 2nd round (the last pick) by the Utah Jazz but after an injury was released only to be signed by the Clippers in September of 2017. This year in the G-League he averaged 22 points a game for the Agua Caliente Clippers before finally getting the call up.
ICYMI: Tyrone Wallace scored 30 points last night against the Memphis Hustle, a new career-high! 🔥👀😎
🎥: https://t.co/LtEL3prvcS#NextWave pic.twitter.com/Go1WSV0C0s
— AguaCalienteClippers (@ACClippers) November 29, 2017
"I think it's all surreal just to play against the talent that I've played against so far, some of the stars and to realize I'm really out there doing it," Wallace said.
Tyrone Wallace playing in his 3rd NBA game for the @clippers. The @BHSDrillers grad’s 1st game was spent guarding/attacking Steph Curry. His 3rd? Kevin Durant. Welcome to the big time.
— Stephen Hicks (@StephenHicks23) January 11, 2018
Surreal but not a surprise to those closest. At the age of four, when pizza and Scooby Doo were still among his favorite things, on a take home paper from preschool he said he wanted to be "an NBA Basketball Player" when he grew up.
When asked why she hung on to a piece of paper after all these years, his mother Michelle said, "Because I knew that one day he'd probably end up being a player."
Someone who grew up watching Kobe Bryant play at Staples Center, Wallace is now taking the same court himself. This time, he's the Bakersfield kids are watching at home. "Dreams do come true," he said. "Don't let anybody tell you that you can't be anything or you can't do anything in life. As long as you work hard and have faith you can do it all."
RELATED: Get to know Tyrone Wallace with the "Lightning Round"
"It's more about the person he is because he is such a great person," Burt said. "He works extremely hard. You just had the feeling that this was going to happen. It was just a matter of time."
How much time he spends in the league is unknown but the dream that started here in Bakersfield looks to have found its place in LA.
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers started out by giving Wallace a limited role through his first three games but that has quickly evolved into a starting role in what would right now, if the season ended today, would be a playoff team.
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