Terry Foster of the Detroit News reports:

Ben Wallace wants to be the first friendly face a troubled youth sees when he is on the wrong side of the law.

He’ll be dressed in his best blue suit with briefcase in hand, ready to tackle another case in court. When Wallace hangs up his basketball sneakers, he wants to go to law school.

But will the Pistons want Wallace for the one more season he would like to play? NBA players are locked out, so Wallace packed up and headed to his Virginia home. He can’t work out at the Pistons’ practice facility and can’t have contact with Pistons personnel. Until the lockout is over and Wallace has a conversation with Pistons president Joe Dumars, Big Ben won’t know if he’ll get one more shot in Detroit.

“We will see how it goes,” Wallace said.

He knows the end of his NBA career is just around the corner. Wallace, 36, averaged just 2.9 points and 6.5 rebounds in 22.9 minutes over 54 games last season. But Wallace believes he still can be a mentor to young Pistons like Greg Monroe.

Wallace not only wants to represent clients, he wants to tell them his long-shot story and make them realize their lives are not over despite youthful mistakes. Wallace is doing plenty of research now into law schools. The thought has been brewing for years, and he even spoke to former Pistons coach John Kuester about it three years ago when Wallace played in Cleveland.

Read NBA fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.