Viola Reggio Calabria (1996) After leaving Virginia Union and going
undrafted, he travelled to Italy for a tryout with the Italian team
Viola Reggio Calabria, where he played only one game in the 1996–97
Italian Basketball Cup against
Faber Fabriano on August 29, 1996.
Washington Bullets / Wizards (1996–1999) Wallace appeared in only 34 games for Washington in the
1996–97 season and did not play many minutes. The following year, he appeared in 67 games and started in 16, but did not average many points (3.1) or rebounds (4.8). He did manage to average 1.1 blocks throughout the season, however, and his defensive play solidified his identity and his minutes increased significantly in the lockout-shortened
1998–99 season, as he started in 16 of 46 games and averaged 6.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. Washington was unable to make the playoffs for three straight years.
Orlando Magic (1999–2000) On August 11, 1999, Wallace was traded to the
Orlando Magic in a multiplayer deal for
Isaac Austin. In the
1999–2000 season, he solidified his role as a starter, starting in all 81 games that he appeared in. He averaged 4.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks for the Magic as they won 41 games. However, the Magic failed to make the
playoffs and following the season, the Magic traded Wallace, along with
Chucky Atkins, to the
Detroit Pistons as compensation in a sign-and-trade deal for superstar forward and free agent
Grant Hill.
Detroit Pistons (2000–2006) Rise to defensive dominance (2000–2003) The trade for Hill was considered one-sided, but in the
2000–01 season, Wallace had his most productive season yet, averaging 6.4 points per game while placing second in rebounds with 13.2 per game and tenth in blocks per game with 2.3, but the Pistons could not make the
playoffs. The
2001–02 season would be even better for Wallace, as he averaged his most points per game for a season yet at 7.6 points, while leading the league in rebounding with 13.0 per game and shot blocking with 3.5. His strong defensive play earned him the
NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, while also being named to the All-Defensive First Team and the
All-NBA Third Team. The Pistons won 50 games and the Central Division, and would defeat the
Toronto Raptors in the first round of the
playoffs before falling to the
Paul Pierce-led
Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals. Wallace opened the playoffs with a 19-point, 20-rebound effort against Toronto, and he managed to grab 20 or more rebounds two more times in 10 total playoff games, his first experience in the playoffs. The
2002–03 season would result in another Defensive Player of the Year Award for Wallace, as well as another selection to the All-Defensive team along with being named to the All-NBA Second Team, as he increased his rebounding to 15.4 per game. The Pistons won 50 games and the Central Division again, and defeated Orlando in a grueling seven-game first-round series that included coming back from a 3–1 deficit. Detroit would go on to defeat the
Philadelphia 76ers in six games, but the Pistons were swept by the defending Eastern Conference champion
New Jersey Nets in the Conference Finals. Wallace increased his rebounding to 16.3 per game in the
playoffs, and reached 20 or more rebounds four times.
NBA champion and return to the NBA Finals (2003–2005) at the
White House by
President Bush for the team's victory in the
2004 NBA Finals The
2003–04 season saw Wallace continue to rank among the league leaders in rebounding (12.4 per game) and blocks (3.2 per game). Despite losing out on a third straight Defensive Player of the Year Award to
Ron Artest, Wallace increased his scoring average to 9.5 points per game, and was named again to the All-Defensive First Team and the All-NBA Second Team. The season also featured new head coach
Larry Brown, and he would lead the Pistons to 54 wins for the season, which included a late season acquisition of star
power forward Rasheed Wallace to further improve the team's defense and scoring. In the
playoffs, the Pistons handily defeated the
Milwaukee Bucks in five games in the first round, before facing New Jersey for the second straight year. Despite taking a two-game lead to open the series, the Nets would put up a fight against the Pistons to win three straight games, and the Pistons responded with an 81–75 road win in New Jersey (in which Wallace grabbed 20 rebounds) before wrapping up the series with a 90–69 Game 7 win. The Pistons would then face the
Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest-led, league-leading
Indiana Pacers, and the two teams traded wins in the first four games. The Pistons won the next two games of the series, allowing them to advance to the
Finals with Wallace scoring 12 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in the closing game of the series. Detroit had not reached the Finals since
1990. The Pistons dominated in Game 1 with an 87–75 win in Los Angeles against the
Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers would respond in Game 2 with late-game heroics by team leaders
Kobe Bryant and
Shaquille O'Neal before the series moved to Detroit, but the combined defensive effort and near-perfect offensive execution at home brought the Pistons an 88–68 win in Game 3. The Lakers were unable to respond in Game 4, as the Pistons held their own and continued to dominate on defense and rebounding to beat the Lakers 88–80. Los Angeles needed one win to return the series to their home court, but the Pistons proved to be far too dominating again in Game 5, as Detroit won the game 100–87 to win the NBA championship led by Wallace who posted his best game of the series with 18 points and 22 rebounds. It would be the third NBA title for the franchise and its first since 1990. Wallace held his own against the likes of Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal and then Shaquille O'Neal in the Finals, posting averages of 10.3 points per game with 14.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. In the 2003–04 season and 2004 playoffs, Wallace posted individual Defensive Ratings of 87 and 84, respectively. Among players with a comparable number of games and minutes played, both of these marks are the lowest individual defensive ratings posted in a regular season or playoffs. The Pistons also began a tradition of sounding a deep chime whenever "Big Ben" scored or recorded a block on Detroit's home court,
The Palace of Auburn Hills—an allusion to the original
Big Ben in London. The defending champions looked forward to defending their title in the
2004–05 season, but the season would take an unexpected turn near the end of a November 19 game against the Indiana Pacers, in which Wallace and
Ron Artest sparred with each other before the infamous brawl named "
The Malice at the Palace" involving both players and spectators took place. Wallace was suspended for six games, and his brother David Wallace received a year of probation and community service for punching Indiana's
Fred Jones in the stands. Wallace continued to dominate on defense (2.4 blocks per game) and rebounding (12.2 per game), and increased his scoring production on his way to winning another Defensive Player of the Year Award along with yet another selection to the All-Defensive First Team and the All-NBA Third Team. In the
playoffs, the Pistons dominated the Philadelphia 76ers before defeating their rival Pacers in the semifinals in six games. The Conference Finals would feature a matchup with the resurgent
Miami Heat, who had acquired Shaquille O'Neal from the Lakers, and were led in scoring by
Dwyane Wade. The teams traded victories before Miami won game 5 to take a 3–2 series lead, but the Pistons responded and took advantage of an injury to Wade in game 6 before grinding out a difficult 88–82 Game 7 win on the road in Miami to advance to their second straight
Finals. Wallace once again held his own against O'Neal throughout the series. This time in the Finals, Detroit would face the
San Antonio Spurs, led by superstar
Tim Duncan, and international players such as
Tony Parker and
Manu Ginóbili. The Spurs won the first two games at home before the Pistons matched them with two wins in Detroit, setting up a crucial Game 5 in which San Antonio managed a one-point victory. Detroit would respond with a win on the road in Game 6, but had no answer for Duncan and the Spurs' attack and lost the series in Game 7. Wallace averaged 10 points and 11.3 rebounds throughout the 2005 playoffs.
Final season in Detroit (2005–2006) Despite the disappointing Finals' loss, the Pistons returned with a vengeance in the
2005–06 season, with Wallace winning another consecutive Defensive Player of the Year Award, a fifth straight selection to the All-Defensive First Team and another selection to the All-NBA Third Team. He was named an
All-Star for the fourth straight season, and led the league in total offensive rebounds with 301. Detroit was dominant throughout the season, winning 64 games and earning the top seed in the conference. The
playoffs featured a dominating win over Milwaukee in the first round followed by a grueling seven-game series win against the young
Cleveland Cavaliers led by All-Star forward
LeBron James. This set up a conference finals rematch with Miami, who had retooled their roster in the off-season. The Pistons struggled throughout the series with the impressive play of Dwyane Wade, who dominated offensively on the way to a 4–2 victory. Miami would go on to win that year's NBA title. Wallace's production fell significantly as compared to previous seasons in the playoffs, as he only averaged 4.7 points per game, 10.5 rebounds and just 1.2 blocks. In each of the five straight seasons that the Pistons made the playoffs with Wallace, Detroit allowed the fewest points per game out of all 16 playoff teams. Without Wallace, the Pistons fell to third in points per game allowed in the 2007 and 2008 playoffs. At the conclusion of the 2005-06 season, Wallace became a free agent. He initially stated he was committed to returning to Detroit, but was disappointed with GM
Joe Dumars final offer contract of four years, $48 million and decided to test free agency.
Chicago Bulls (2006–2008) In July 2006, Wallace agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal with the
Chicago Bulls. Chicago Bulls coach
Scott Skiles had a strict "no-
headband" policy, but decided to make an exception for Wallace when his teammates voted in favor of allowing him to keep the signature headband. Wallace continued to be relied upon as a defensive stopper and rebounder, as the Bulls already featured scoring from
Kirk Hinrich,
Ben Gordon, and
Luol Deng. While his overall averages decreased from previous years, he still managed to average double figure rebounds (10.7 per game) and posted 2.0 blocks per game for the season. The Bulls won 49 games, and entered the
playoffs with a first round matchup against the defending champion Miami Heat. The series would mark the fourth straight year that Wallace faced off with
Shaquille O'Neal in the playoffs, and while the Heat were more experienced they also had played an inconsistent regular season with
Dwyane Wade missing games due to injury. The Bulls on the other hand were ready to take on the older Heat, and shocked Miami with a four-game sweep with an average win margin of 11 points, becoming the first team to sweep the defending champions in a first round series. Wallace posted 13 points with 11 rebounds in the close out game in Miami, and the Bulls advanced to face his former Pistons team. Despite no longer featuring Wallace and being older, the Pistons dominated the first three games to take a 3–0 lead before Chicago responded at home in game 4 with Wallace scoring 11 points with 17 rebounds. Chicago also went on to win Game 5 in Detroit, but could not extend the series to a seventh game as the Pistons proved too experienced for the younger team. Wallace averaged 8.7 points with 9.5 rebounds in 10 playoff games. The Bulls started the
2007–08 season with a 9–16 record before Skiles was removed as head coach. During his nearly two-year run in Chicago, Wallace battled with various knee injuries and averaged 5.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.0 blocks per game.
Cleveland Cavaliers (2008–2009) In February 2008, Wallace was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team deal involving the
Seattle SuperSonics, in which the Cavaliers received Wallace, as well as Bulls teammate
Joe Smith and Seattle's
Wally Szczerbiak and
Delonte West. The Bulls received
Shannon Brown,
Larry Hughes,
Cedric Simmons, and
Drew Gooden from the Cavaliers, and the Sonics received Cleveland's
Ira Newble and
Donyell Marshall and Chicago's
Adrian Griffin. The Cavaliers already featured
Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the team's starting center, so coach
Mike Brown moved Wallace to the
power forward position. Wallace played in 22 regular season games (all starts) and averaged 4.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. Wallace had a Cavalier regular season high of 12 points on February 24, 2008, against the
Memphis Grizzlies, and had regular season Cavaliers' highs of 15 rebounds against the
Charlotte Bobcats and four blocks against the Orlando Magic. In the
playoffs, Wallace played in 13 games (all starts) and averaged 3.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. On June 25, 2009, Wallace was traded to the
Phoenix Suns with
Sasha Pavlović, a second-round draft pick and $500,000 for
Shaquille O'Neal. On July 13, 2009, the Suns bought out Wallace's $14 million contract, saving $8 million in the process. Wallace actually received $10 million but Phoenix was in luxury tax so the savings were effectively doubled.
Return to Detroit (2009–2012) On August 7, 2009, Wallace agreed to re-sign with the Pistons as a free agent to a one-year deal. He formerly wore jersey No. 3 with the Pistons, but changed his jersey to No. 6 upon his return, allowing
Rodney Stuckey to keep that number. On July 11, 2010, Wallace agreed to a two-year deal with the Pistons. , 2012 On August 4, 2010, Wallace was re-signed by the Pistons. On November 30, 2010, in a 90–79 road loss to the
Orlando Magic, Wallace surpassed the 10,000-rebound mark for his career, becoming the 34th player in NBA history to achieve that mark. On December 22, 2010, in a 115–93 road win over the Toronto Raptors, Wallace played his 1,000th game and became the 95th player in NBA history to achieve this record. On February 14, 2012, Wallace played his 1,055th game, surpassing the record held by
Avery Johnson for most games by an undrafted player. On January 16, 2016, the Pistons retired Wallace's No. 3 jersey. == National team career ==