Know Your Team: Amir Williams

Picture Credit: London Lightning

London Lightning

6'11

Center

From Birmingham, Michigan

With an imposing stature and relentless athleticism, Amir Williams has been a big threat on both ends of the floor throughout his pro playing time and has a wealth of basketball experience to bring to the NBL Canada on his debut.

Williams showed basketball prowess from a young age, winning the gold medal with the USA Under-18 team at the 2010 FIBA Americas championship in San Antonio and played in the All-American Game in 2011, as a teammate of future NBA star Anthony Davis. From there he was recruited to the Ohio State Buckeyes, where he played in the NCAA tournament Final Four as a freshman and participated in the tournament in the next three seasons.

Turning professional in 2015, Williams was selected sixth overall in the NBA D-League Draft by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He made twelve starts in thirty-eight games played for the Vipers in the season and reached the playoffs, where the team was eliminated in three games by the Austin Spurs.

The following season he was claimed by the Iowa Wolves, where he had 5.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per the twenty-nine games he suited up for. Williams finished the season down under with the Hawkes Bay Hawks in New Zealand, starting in every game, averaging 13.5 points and 9.8 boards and finishing as the league's leading rebounder.

After being a part of the 2017 Memphis Grizzlies summer league team, Williams signed with Swiss club Boncourt. Starting in twenty-six out of thirty games on the season he put up 14.3 points and 11.8 total rebounds, then made made almost three-quarters of all his field goal attempts with Atomeromu in Hungary. In 2019 Williams played ten games for the Worcester Wolves in the British Basketball League, making a double-double in five of them and winning MVP honours in the league cup competition.

The following season he returned to Switzerland, signing with BC Nyon, where he had career-best season scoring average of 16.5 points per game, as well as 9.7 rebounds. It was the fifth straight season where he shot more than 50% from the field. His next team, the London Lightning, signed him in the hope this streak would continue - and were not disappointed.

Williams made every field goal against the Lansing Pharaohs on March 6th and three days later had his first double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds, against the KW Titans. When he was next in action he had an NBLC career-high 19 points against the Sudbury Five and the next day was perfect from the field once again as he put up 14 points against the Windsor Express - two highly impressive showings that earned him his first NBLC Player of the Week award.

Amir Williams has had a long basketball journey which has taken him far and wide, but when he landed in Canada he hit the ground running and the wealth of his experience has made him one of the most promising newcomers of 2022.