Chris Wallace (basketball)

Chris Wallace is a professional basketball executive who is the general manager for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Memphis Grizzlies.

Wallace began working in the NBA in 1986, and was the general manager of the Boston Celtics for ten seasons. Unlike many of his general manager peers, he has never been a player or coach in the NBA. In 2007, he joined the Grizzlies as their general manager and vice president of basketball operations.

Jon Spoelstra gave Wallace his first NBA job with the Portland Trail Blazers. Wallace was Director of Player Personnel for the Miami Heat before coming to Boston. The Heat won a franchise-record 61 games in 1996–97, and Wallace is credited with discovering many of the Heat's players. His responsibilities included college and international scouting and searching for potential talent in the Continental Basketball Association as well as the NBA. Wallace was promoted to that position after four years as a scout for the Heat.

Before joining the Heat, Wallace worked in various scouting capacities for the Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, and New York Knicks. He also worked as a draft consultant for the United States Basketball League.

In 1981, while a student at the University of Kansas, Wallace founded Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, an in-depth preseason guide, which he edited and published until 1996. His work on the publication helped him build a reputation as an expert in the field.

Wallace was hired by the Boston Celtics in 1997, with Miami receiving a second-round draft pick to end his contract and allow him to take the new job, and became general manager for the 2000–01 season. The next season, Wallace made a trade-deadline trade with the Phoenix Suns of Joe Johnson for Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers (among others), which would help get the Celtics to their first Eastern Conference finals in over a decade, but the trade became problematic over the long term when Johnson became a major star with Phoenix and Atlanta, while Rogers left the Celtics after Wallace failed to sign him to a contract extension. Wallace drafted Paul Pierce, who fell to the Celtics with the No. 10 pick in the 1998 NBA draft. He also traded for Vin Baker, who had been signed to a large contract and tied up Boston's salary cap for three years while battling alcoholism. He has been criticized for his draft history and his free-agent signings while the Celtics' GM.

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