Latavious Williams (born March 29, 1989) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for

Kazma Kazma () is an ancient city in Kuwait. It is located in Al Jahra Governorate, north of Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait. It is an ancient city with a long history, known to Persians and Arabs since the Sassanid, Jahiliyyah and the early Isla ...

in Kuwait. After graduating from high school, he played with the

Tulsa 66ers Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

of the NBA Development League before being drafted by the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

with the 48th pick in the

2010 NBA draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...

. After the draft, his draft rights were immediately traded to the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

, the NBA affiliate of the 66ers. However, the Thunder did not sign him to a contract and Williams returned to the D-League with the 66ers. On February 19, 2015, his draft rights were traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. Williams was the first player ever to skip

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 ...

and play a year in the D-League before getting drafted in the NBA. He was also the first player ever to enter into the D-League directly from high school. Williams was, however, the second player to be drafted while playing for a D-League team, as Mike Taylor ended up being drafted two years earlier in 2008. As of April 2022, Williams has never played a competitive game (regular season or playoff) in the NBA, being one of two D-League draftees to hold such claim (the other being

Chukwudiebere Maduabum Chu (born Chukwudiebere) Maduabum (born March 19, 1991), sometimes credited as "Chuk", "Chuck", or "Chu Chu", is a Nigerian professional basketball player for the Tryhoop Okayama of the B.League. He was drafted 56th overall by the Los Angeles Lake ...

Early life

Williams was born to Fredrick and Cassandra Neely in Starkville, Mississippi.

High school

Williams played four years at Starkville High School. In his last year at Starkville, he averaged 19.9 points, 14.5 rebounds and 5.0 blocks and led Starkville to the Class 5A state semi-finals. After four years in Starkville, he had completed only 2 of the 16 core courses that the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) requires for eligibility for an athletic scholarship. He then attended

Christian Life Center Academy Christian Life Center Academy (CLCA) is a private, college preparatory Christian school serving primary, secondary and postgraduate students located in the Kingwood area of Houston. It was previously in another section of the city of Houston, ne ...

, a private school in

Humble, Texas Humble ( ) is a city located in the Houston metropolitan area. Humble became an oil boomtown in the early 20th century when oil was first discovered there in 1904. By 1905, the Humble oilfield was the largest producing oilfield in Texas. Humble ...

, for a year to complete the 14 other core courses he needed. He continued to play on prep level and averaged 23 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 assists and 4 steals for the Christian Life Center Academy.

College plans

After finishing his high school education, Williams intended to play

. He was ranked as one of the top 20 recruits in the 2009 class. In May 2009, he announced his verbal commitment to attend the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering, the Center for Ea ...

. He chose Memphis ahead of Georgetown,

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and Florida International. He became

Josh Pastner Joshua Paul Pastner (born September 26, 1977) is an American college basketball coach, and the current head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Pastner was a player on the 1997 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball national championship team, ...

's first recruit as the

Memphis Tigers The Memphis Tigers are the athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic C ...

head coach. However, he struggled to qualify academically and later backed out from his commitment to play for Memphis and instead skipped college basketball altogether to play professionally. However, a player who attended high school in the United States is not eligible to enter the NBA draft until a year after his high school graduation. He was expected to sign with an overseas team before entering the NBA when he became eligible, a similar path taken by

Brandon Jennings Brandon Byron Jennings (born September 23, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player who played 9 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is known for being one of the first Americans to go from high school to ...

who played in the Italian league for a year before he was drafted in 2009.

Professional career

2009–10 season

Williams receive several offers from overseas teams, including an offer from the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

which were reportedly worth US$100,000. However, his family decided against the idea of playing overseas. He opted to play in the D-League, the NBA's official minor league organization. He chose to earn US$19,000 in the D-League because he believed that he would receive more exposure and experience. He entered the D-League Draft and was drafted 16th overall by the

. He became the first player ever selected in the D-League Draft directly from high school. Because the NBA requires a player to be one year out of high school to play in the league, he became the only D-League player who could not be called up by any of the NBA teams in the 2009–10 season. He played as the 66ers backup forward for most of the season, starting only 7 out of 46 games in the regular season. He averaged 7.7 points on 52.8 percent shooting and 7.7 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game. He scored in double figures 16 times and recorded double-figure rebounds in 13 games during the regular season. He also recorded 9 double-doubles in the regular season. He improved his production in the postseason, averaging 11.3 points on 61.2 percent shooting and 8.0 rebounds in seven postseason games. He helped the 66ers advanced to the Finals but they failed to win the championship despite Williams averaging 13.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the two finals games against

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won fo ...

2010–11 season

Williams was automatically eligible for the

as he was already one year removed from his high school graduation. He was drafted by the

in the second round with the 48th pick. He became the first player ever to skip college basketball and play a year in the D-League before getting drafted in the NBA. He also became the second player to be drafted from a D-League team to the NBA, after Mike Taylor in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Shortly after being drafted by the Heat, his draft rights were traded to the

, the NBA team affiliated with the

, in exchange for a future second-round pick. He played for the Thunder in the 2010 Orlando Summer League. He played in all five games, averaging 3.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13.0 minutes per game. His best game came during the win against the Philadelphia 76ers when he scored 10 points, with 5 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots in 15 minutes off the bench. However, he didn't receive a contract offer or an invitation to the Thunder's training camp for the 2010–11 season. On October 31, 2010, the Tulsa 66ers announced that Williams would be returning to the team for the 2010–11 season. His rights in the NBA were still held by the Thunder. He went on to average 13.2 points and 8.6 rebounds in 41 games.

2011–12 season

On August 23, 2011, Williams signed a one-year contract with

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

team

FIATC Joventut Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two teams ...

. At the end of the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

, he earned Most Spectacular Player honors. Williams was also candidate for the ACB Rising Star Award after averaging 9.6 points and 7.1 rebounds.

2012–13 season

In July 2012, Williams re-joined the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 2012 NBA Summer League. He then joined Metros de Santiago of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

for s short stint before signing a two-month contract with German League and EuroLeague team

Brose Baskets Brose Bamberg is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia / North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

on October 4. His contract was not extended after it ended in December 2012. He then signed with Cajasol Sevilla of Spain for the rest of the season.

2013–14 season

Williams returned to Cajasol Sevilla for the 2013–14 season but last just 10 games before being released in January 2014.

2014–15 season

After serving out another short stint with Metros de Santiago, Williams signed with

Bilbao Basket Club Basket Bilbao Berri S.A.D., commonly known as Bilbao Basket (), also known as Surne Bilbao Basket for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Bilbao, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Bilba ...

of Spain for the

2014–15 ACB season The 2014–15 ACB season was the 32nd season of the Spanish basketball league, also called Liga Endesa in its sponsored identity. The regular season started on 4 October 2014 and finished on 24 May 2015. The playoffs, joined by the eight first qua ...

on August 29. On June 4, 2015, he signed with

Vaqueros de Bayamón The Vaqueros de Bayamón are a Puerto Rican basketball team of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The Vaqueros play their home games at Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez, Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum, a venue shared with the L ...

of Puerto Rico for the rest of the 2015 BSN season.

2015–16 season

On July 20, 2015, Williams signed a one-year deal with

UNICS Kazan BC UNICS (russian: БК УНИКС) is a professional basketball club in Kazan, Russia, that plays in the VTB United League, and formerly played in the EuroLeague. On February 28, 2022, EuroLeague Basketball suspended the team because of the 202 ...

of Russia.

2016–17 season

On June 16, 2016, Williams re-signed with UNICS for one more season. On June 2, 2017, he signed with

Bucaneros de La Guaira The Piratas de La Guaira are a professional basketball team based in Maiquetía, Vargas, Venezuela. Founded in 2008, from 2010 to 2022, they were known as the Bucaneros de La Guaira. The team was re-founded as the Piratas in 2022. The team currentl ...

of Venezuela for the rest of the 2017 LPB season.

2017–18 season

On July 19, 2017, Williams signed with Spanish club

Valencia Basket Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, with home games played at the Fuente de San Luis. The club is spon ...

for the 2017–18 season.

2018–19 season

On November 1, 2018, Williams signed with Bosnian club Igokea for the 2018–19 season. In 11 ABA League games played for Igokea, he averaged 11.9 points and 4 rebounds per game. Williams won the

Bosnian Cup The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kup Bosne i Hercegovine, Куп Босне и Херцеговине) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner ...

title with Igokea. On April 16, 2019, Williams parted ways with Igokea to join Tecnyconta Zaragoza for the rest of the season.

2019–20 season

On August 1, 2019, Williams signed with

Hapoel Holon Hapoel Holon Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל הפועל חולון), known for sponsorship reasons as Hapoel Atsmon Playgrounds Holon (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli ...

of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

for the 2019–20 season. On October 5, 2019, Williams recorded a double-double of 23 points and 14 rebounds in his debut, shooting 8-of-11 from the field in an 89–75 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv. On November 26, 2019, he parted ways with Holon. On November 28, 2019, Williams signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv for the rest of the season. On December 14, 2019, Williams recorded a season-high 25 points, along with 12 rebounds for 41 PIR in an 84–91 loss to

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

2020–21 season

On June 19, 2020, Williams signed with the Korean team

Anyang KGC The Anyang Korea Ginseng Corporation ( ko, 안양 KGC인삼공사), or Anyang KGC, is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League, based at Anyang Arena in the city of Anyang. The club has won three KBL championship titles, ...

2021–22 season

On August 15, 2021, Williams signed with

Jeonju KCC Egis The Jeonju KCC Egis is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League. Current roster Enlisted players Honours Domestic Korean Basketball League *KBL Championship :: Winners (5): 1997–98, 1998– ...

2022–23 season

In October 2022, Williams played for

in the

2022 Arab Club Basketball Championship The 2022 Arab Club Basketball Championship ( ar, بطولة الأندية العربية لكرة السلة 2022) was the 34th season of the Arab Club Basketball Championship. The tournament is held from 5 October to 15 October 2022 in Kuwait. ...

Career statistics

Domestic leagues

References

External links