Micheal Douglas Williams (born July 23, 1966) is an American former 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 turned businessman that played the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

position in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

(NBA). He holds the NBA record for most consecutive free throws made, with 97. Micheal Williams also founded Dallas based 3i Contracting, which has participated, built and/or developed over $1 billion worth of real estate throughout the state of Texas. Out of

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of th ...

, Williams was selected with the 48th overall pick in the

1988 NBA draft The 1988 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1988, in New York City, New York. The length was reduced from seven rounds in the previous year to three rounds. This was also the first draft for the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, prior to their i ...

by the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

with whom he played 49 games in his rookie season, averaging 2.4 points and 1.4 assists per game. The Pistons won the

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is a ...

in his rookie year. Williams was traded by Detroit to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

on draft day of 1989, along with the Pistons' first-round draft pick (27th overall) of the

1989 NBA draft The 1989 NBA draft took place on June 27, 1989, in New York City. Despite eight of the top ten picks being considered busts, including the first two picks Pervis Ellison and Danny Ferry, the draft produced many talented players such as Shawn Ke ...

, Kenny Battle, in exchange for the Suns' first-round draft choice (24th overall pick), Anthony Cook. That season was spent split between the

and the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

averaging 5.6 points and 2.9 assists per game, before being acquired by the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first estab ...

in 1990. He thrived during his two seasons in Indiana, averaging 13.2 points, 6.5 assists and shooting 87.5% from the

free-throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

line. Prior to the 1992–93 season, he was traded along with

Chuck Person Chuck Connors Person (born June 28, 1964) is an American former basketball player and coach. Person played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was the 1987 NBA Rookie of the Year. Person played college basketball at Aubur ...

to 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 ...

in exchange for Sam Mitchell and

Pooh Richardson Jerome "Pooh" Richardson Jr. (born May 14, 1966) is an American former basketball player who played 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected in the first round of the 1989 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, ...

. He continued his solid play in Minnesota for the following two seasons but, due to various injuries, in his final four years with the Wolves he participated in just 35 games (including missing the entire 1996–97 season). On January 21, 1999 Minnesota traded him, along with

Željko Rebrača Željko Rebrača ( sr-cyr, Жељко Ребрача; born April 9, 1972) is a Serbian retired professional basketball player. After playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he finished his career with the Spanish ACB League team Pam ...

, to the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

in a three-team deal. By then his career was on the decline, and he only played two games for the Raptors before retiring that year. At the conclusion of 1992–93, Williams ranked fourth in the league in free-throw accuracy at 90.7 percent after making his final 84 attempts. In the process, he broke

Calvin Murphy Calvin Jerome Murphy (born May 9, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player who after a prolific collegiate career at Niagara, where he averaged 33.1 points per game over his three years, played in the National Basketball Assoc ...

's 1981 record of 78 successive free throws, continuing his streak into the following season ( 1993–94), making his first 13 attempts. As of 2022 he still holds the NBA record for consecutive free throws made during the regular season at 97, spanning 19 regular-season games from March 24 to November 9, 1993.

Notes

External links

NBA.com profile"Eluding Calvin's curse - Flashback: Micheal Williams' Streak" Basketball Digest, April, 2003 by O'Donnell Chuck
@ findarticles.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Micheal 1966 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball players from Dallas Baylor Bears men's basketball players Charlotte Hornets players Detroit Pistons draft picks Detroit Pistons players Indiana Pacers players Minnesota Timberwolves players Phoenix Suns players Point guards Rapid City Thrillers players Toronto Raptors players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople