Jeenathan Williams Jr. (born February 12, 1999) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-Am ...

of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC).

High school career

Williams played basketball for University Prep Charter School for Young Men in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. As a junior, he averaged 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game and was named to the Class AA all-state fifth team. For his senior season, Williams transferred to Prolific Prep in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major t ...

, where he averaged 15.8 points per game. He competed for the City Rocks on the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

circuit alongside

Isaiah Stewart Isaiah Stewart II (born May 22, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Washington Huskies. Listed at and , he plays the cent ...

and

Buddy Boeheim Jackson Thomas "Buddy" Boeheim (born November 11, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Motor City Cruise of the NBA G League. He ...

. A four-star recruit, Williams committed to playing college basketball for Buffalo over offers from

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

and St. Bonaventure. He became the highest-rated recruit in program history.

College career

As a freshman at Buffalo, Williams averaged 3.2 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. In his sophomore season, he moved into the starting lineup, and averaged 11.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Following the season, he worked on his ballhandling and shooting with coaches in Florida and California. On November 27, 2020, Williams posted a junior season-high 28 points and 12 rebounds in a 74–65 win against

Towson Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorp ...

. As a junior, he averaged 17.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, earning Second Team All-

(MAC) honors. Williams declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

before withdrawing and returning to Buffalo. In his senior season debut on November 10, 2021, he scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds in an 88–76 loss to sixth-ranked

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Williams was named to the First Team All-MAC.

Professional career

Salt Lake City Stars (2022–2023)

After going undrafted in the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...

, Williams joined the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus ...

. On October 11, 2022, Williams signed an exhibit 10 contract with the Jazz, but was waived the next day. On October 19, Williams signed with the

Salt Lake City Stars The Salt Lake City Stars are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are affiliated with the Utah Jazz. As of the 2022-23 season, the Stars play in the Maverik Center in West Valley City, U ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

Portland Trail Blazers (2023–present)

On April 1, 2023, Williams signed with the

. He made his NBA debut the next day, scoring 7 points in a 107-105 win over the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, 5 , , 4 , , 25.4 , , .615 , , .375 , , .667 , , 3.0 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .4 , , 10.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 5 , , 4 , , 25.4 , , .615 , , .375 , , .667 , , 3.0 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .4 , , 10.6

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 36 , , 0 , , 9.1 , , .358 , , .106 , , .611 , , 1.7 , , .2 , , .2 , , .2 , , 3.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 32 , , 31 , , 25.7 , , .455 , , .318 , , .708 , , 4.7 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , .7 , , 11.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 25 , , 24 , , 30.8 , , .486 , , .386 , , .708 , , 6.8 , , 2.4 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 17.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 29 , , 29 , , 32.6 , , .490 , , .451 , , .690 , , 5.0 , , 2.9 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , 19.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 122 , , 84 , , 23.5 , , .467 , , .355 , , .688 , , 4.3 , , 1.6 , , .8 , , .5 , , 12.1

References

External links

Buffalo Bulls bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jeenathan 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York (state) Buffalo Bulls men's basketball players Portland Trail Blazers players Salt Lake City Stars players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Rochester, New York Undrafted National Basketball Association players