DETROIT – The Detroit Pistons have signed former Jacksonville State guard Walker Russell, rushing him from the NBA Developmental League's Fort Wayne Mad Ants and making him JSU's first player in the NBA.

Russell, who was an All-Ohio Valley Conference point guard for the Gamecocks from 2003-06 after transferring from Chipola Junior college, got the call to aid a Pistons backcourt depleted by injuries and will make his debut Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET in a home game vs. the Memphis Grizzlies.

“His plane lands at 11,” Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank said to Pistons.com after their morning shootaround. “He'll get in here and we'll give him a crash course. Not only will he be ready to play, he'll play.”

The 6-foot-0 Russell has paid his dues and earned his trip to the NBA, spending five seasons in the NDBL, where he has earned All-Star nods multiple times. Through 16 games this season, he is averaging 16 points per game and an NBDL-best 9.9 assists per game that is 1.5 assists per game more than any other player in the league. Earlier this season, he scored 19 points and dished 19 assists in a win over Bakersfield.

In his five seasons in the NBDL, Russell is averaging 15.1 points, 8.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. He has played four seasons for Fort Wayne after debuting in 2006-07 with Fort Worth.

It will be the first time a JSU player has played in an NBA game but not the first time in the Russell family. The native of Pontiac, Mich., just outside Detroit, is the son of Walker D. Russell, who became the third of the Russell brothers to play in the NBA.

His father followed in the footsteps of Frank Russell, who played at the University of Detroit and later with the Chicago Bulls for a season, and the great Campy Russell, an All-American at Michigan who became one of the greatest players in Cleveland Cavaliers history, though knee injuries kept him from NBA superstardom. A fourth Russell brother, Walker Jr.'s uncle Larry, also was a top-notch college player at Toledo. Walker D. Russell spent parts of five seasons in the NBA and had three tours with the Pistons, the last one during the 1988 NBA playoffs when they lost to the Lakers in Game 7 of the Finals.

In his Gamecock career, he set the school record for career free throw percentage with an .842 clip, while earning All-OVC honors in each his junior and senior seasons. With 1,182 points, he also held the school's Division I career scoring record until Nick Murphy passed him last season.

Russell joins former Morehead State forward Kenneth Faried, who is in his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets, as the only former OVC players in the NBA.