Know Your Team: Kirk Williams Jr

London Lightning

6’7

Forward

From White Plains, New York

2xNBLC Champion

1xFinals MVP

2014 Sixth Man of the Year

Kirk Williams Jr enters the 2018-19 NBL Canada season as one of the league's longest-serving and most decorated players.

In his senior year for the Woodlands Highlanders in Hartsdale, New York, he averaged 17.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 steals, which earned him all-state and all-conference honours.

Williams went on to play three seasons for NCAA Division 2 team the Longwood Lancers in Farmville, Virgina. He saw the best results in junior year when he averaged 16.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

After another year spent with the Bridgeport Purple Knights, he started his professional career in 2012, signing with NBL Canada franchise Oshawa Power. He played two seasons, in which he emerged as a strong presence off the bench. In his second year he averaged 13.2 points per game, starting in 14 games out of 41, efforts which saw him named the 2014 Sixth Man of the Year.

The next season he stayed in Canada, but moved to the Windsor Express. It turned out to be a lucrative move, he went on to become part of the 2015 championship team, Windsor’s first, and he himself was named Finals MVP.

He spent another season with the Express, but it proved to be a less successful season than the one previous, as the team only went as far as the Central Division semi-finals. He then spent the 2016-17 season with the Niagara River Lions, where he saw his career best season averages of 16.7 points and 6.9 rebounds.

The following season, he joined the London Lightning, where he was reunited with old Power coach Kyle Julius. Playing largely off the bench in all 52 games, Williams would go on to help London to their fourth league championship and his second as a player.

Williams will again be on the Lightning bench this season, but, as with many seasons past, it's what he will do once he comes off it that everyone will be waiting to see.

Picture: Bruce Laing