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Riley expects his arrival at Chase Center to be far more sweet than bitter. Stephen Jackson, Matt Barnes, and Chris Mullin will be among the former players and staffers in attendance to honor Nelson, who coached the Warriors from 1988 to 1995 and from 2006 to 2010. Golden State players will wear a “Nellie” memorial jersey patch on their jerseys this season. Riley, who holds no ill will toward his former franchise, anticipates a beautiful night. “The sadness part of losing Nellie has begun to dwindle, which is typical,” Riley said. “That’s what normally happens. So I think more upbeat than sadness. The way Nellie lived, he would want it that way. He wouldn’t want people moping around full of sadness. Nellie knew how to celebrate. And this is going to be a celebration. I see it more as a celebration than anything else.”
Ball boys are supposed to be invisible. They’re available when a player needs them but out of the way otherwise. They pack up sneakers, run laundry, and help coordinate travel logistics. Eric Housen knew all this in 1985, so it didn’t bother him that none of the Warriors players knew his name. The San Ramon native was working for his favorite team, raking in $10 per game at 12 years old. It was just fine by him if he was known in the locker room as “Buddy” or “My guy,” or “Boss.” One day, as Housen was walking out of the Oakland Arena locker room, Chris Mullin yelled down the hallway. “He said, ‘Eric!,’ and I didn’t turn around because I thought it was [then-media relations staffer] Eric Nelson,” Housen said. “Like, no one in the locker room knows my name. And he said, ‘E!’” That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship: a four-decade bond between star player and ball boy.
Housen, now senior vice president of team operations, is entering his 39th season with the Warriors, making him the organization’s most tenured employee. “And the most invaluable,” Mullin told The Standard. “He’s irreplaceable. He really is. That’s not because I love him so much — that’s a fact.”
Housen was with Mullin every step of the way as he logged five straight All-Star seasons with the Warriors, captaining the Run TMC teams. He’d fly out to New York in the summers to train with Mullin in sweaty gyms and on humid hill runs. Then he followed Mullin to Indiana in 1997, where Mullin helped the Pacers to the 2000 NBA Finals. They remained close as Mullin’s Hall of Fame career took Mullin into the broadcast booth, the executive suite, and back to the sideline as St. Johns’ head coach. Forty years later, Mullin and Housen are still tight, riding a friendship built on mutual respect, thousands of hours together in gyms, and a common devotion for grinding. They consider each other family, so much so that Mullin was one of Housen’s groomsmen. “Chris was a guy I idolized,” said Housen, 53. “How do you become friends, like really good friends, with a guy you idolized? Think about that. Did you look up to Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky or Tom Brady or one of these GOATs in your life, and then you become great friends with him? And then he’s in your wedding.”
Marques Johnson: I was playing with Golden State just for a brief shot of cap, brief shot of espresso not even a [laughter] cup of coffee you know, just 10 games. I was out for three years, hurt my neck, tried to come back… But there's a great story that Kris is about to tell you with him and Chris Mullin. Kris, how old were you then, you were 14 years old at that time? Kris Johnson: Well the deal was, so the WWF came through to the Oakland Coliseum. So Chris Mullin, who was my dad's teammate, took us to the arena, me and my brother. And so long story short, they tried to trip on us when we went backstage. You know, how you go trying to go to the locker room at the event, you know, a situation like that. They trying to say, "Oh, no, you guys can't come. You know, this isn't your night basically, that you get to go in the locker room." So anyway, Chris Mullin was like, "Forget that. We're going in. We're getting some juices. We're getting some drinks or whatever." So we kind of Bogart our way in. Thanasis, when we get in the locker room, I don't know if you remember these dudes named The Bushwhackers, but they were from Australia [note: they were from New Zealand]. They were these crazy wrestlers, these big dudes. They used to like hit their head and stuff. So, we're about to we literally were about to get into a fight, a full-on fight with the Bushwhackers, with "Mean Gene" Okerlund. You know, Mean Gene, right? The announcer. So, I'm 14 years old and they're about to like, you know, they're ganging up on us, man. We had to basically claw our way out of there. After that moment, I knew wrestling was real cuz those dudes meant business. Okay. Marques Johnson: Chris Mullin, he’s from New York, man, I love that story because Chris Mullin was about to throw down against these wrestlers. They about to get into it, man. An all-out brawl back in the Warriors’ locker room in the late 80s.
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Gilbert Arenas: I naturally just have this weird energy where I can just go all day. So, Chris Mullin is the one who honed it in. When I was my first couple years at Golden State, when I found out what Kobe did, I just stayed in. I was sleeping in the gym. I just stayed there. And then Chris Mullin had to teach me how to like confined it. Like going 70% for five hours is… that's stupid. Go a 110 for 40 minutes at a time. Do it. Go home, rest three hours, four hours, come back, go home, rest, then come back. Instead of just sitting here and saying you worked out for seven hours because it has to translate. And I didn't understand what he was talking about. And he said, "Yeah, you can shoot a thousand shots practice style. What about the game style?"
Golden State's general manager, Mike Dunleavy, joined Bonta Hill, Chris Mullin and Festus Ezeli on "Warriors Pregame Live" prior to the Warriors' win over the Orlando Magic on Monday at Chase Center and discussed whether he envisions another blockbuster trade happening before the NBA's Feb. 5 trade deadline. "We’ll look to do stuff that makes our team better, Dunleavy said. "But I wouldn’t bank on that type of move. To get a guy like Jimmy Butler, to have the improvement that we did … that'd be pretty unrealistic."
Chris Mullin on Larry Bird: Talked sh*t like crazy, but quietly, only to you, which messes you up more. But as a coach he kept it real simple, real fundamental. Be on time, play unselfish and play hard. Sounds silly but… I was there three seasons, we had one guy late one time and that's it. No drama, nothing. We're playing preseason, Larry's first year coaching, we're leaving Indiana and going to Nashville for a preseason game, it's like 10:58, everyone's on the plane, David Craig the trainer comes up to Larry like ‘Travis Best and and Dale Davis, they're coming’, and he says ‘What time is it? It’s 11:00, wheels up’. So the plane’s taking off, Travis and Dale are running after the plane, literally running. We took off everyone's like you know Save Dale! Save Dale! After that day though no one ever late again, that was preseason which was perfect timing. Larry was so so blunt and to the point, I remember one halftime he said ‘you f*cking stars don't stop playing man in five minutes I'm taking your ass out. I remember a game in Milwaukee I'm like four for nine you know, whatever, you’re not playing great but not that bad and he said ‘Mully come here, are you gonna make a f*cking shot or what, man? And he really empowered his assistant coaches.
Playing some of his career's best years alongside Reggie, Chris had the highest regard for the Pacers superstar's dedication to his routine. "I always respected Reggie's work ethic, his routine, man he he did not vary, he did the same thing every day, so dedicated, great teammate….He carried that franchise for almost 20 years," said Mullin.
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Noah Levick: Paul George just moved past Vince Carter, Chris Mullin and Baron Davis for 46th place on the NBA's all-time steals list. He passed Carter for ninth on the all-time made 3s list earlier this season.
NBA Communications: Golden State @warriors guard Brandin Podziemski will replace injured Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace on Team T in the 2025 Castrol Rising Stars. Wallace is unable to participate because of a right shoulder strain. Castrol Rising Stars honorary head coaches Tim Hardaway Sr. (Team T), Mitch Richmond (Team M) and Chris Mullin (Team C) previously drafted their teams from the pool of 21 NBA rookies and sophomores who were selected to play. Jeremy Lin is the honorary head coach of the team representing the NBA G League (Team G League). The annual showcase of premier young talent will take place on Friday, Feb. 14 at Chase Center in San Francisco as part of NBA All-Star 2025 (9 p.m. ET, TNT). New this year, the Castrol Rising Stars champion will earn a spot to play in the NBA All-Star Game.
NBA Communications: Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway Sr. drafted their teams today for the 2025 Castrol Rising Stars. Each NBA legend selected seven players from the pool of 21 NBA rookies and sophomores. Jeremy Lin will lead the team of seven players representing the NBA G League.
Scottie Pippen: Who impressed me the most? I was very impressed with Karl Malone, especially in the weight room. He is a beast because of how much he pushed himself. I mean, he stays in the gym for four hours and works until he can’t even pick up a cup of coffee. That’s just who he is—relentless. When it comes to discipline with sleep and diet, though, I wouldn’t say Charles Barkley was the most focused in that regard. Barkley was more into hanging out and enjoying himself. But someone like Chris Mullin stood out—he was incredibly disciplined. Him and Patrick Ewing were all about conditioning, day in and day out. As for who talked the most, outside of Michael—who was nonstop—it was definitely Charles Barkley. He was always poking and talking smack. Of course, people would throw it back at him, saying, ‘Well, you don’t have a championship.’ That’s when he’d have to tuck his tail between his legs."
