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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for Al-Ittihad Jeddah of the Saudi Basketball League (SBL). After graduating from high school, he played with the Tulsa 66ers of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

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 Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

with the 48th pick in the 2010 NBA draft. 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 Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

, 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 The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...

. Williams was the first player ever to skip

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

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).

Early life

Williams was born to Fredrick and Cassandra Neely in

Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest ...

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 College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) requires for eligibility for an athletic scholarship. He then attended Christian Life Center Academy, a private school in Humble, Texas, 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 (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

. He chose Memphis ahead of Georgetown, Kansas State and Florida International. He became Josh Pastner's first recruit as the Memphis Tigers 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 The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

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

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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 men's professional 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$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

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 Tulsa 66ers. 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.

2010–11 season

Williams was automatically eligible for the 2010 NBA draft 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 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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

, the NBA team affiliated with the Tulsa 66ers, 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 The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

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 team FIATC Joventut. 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 S ...

, 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 is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

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

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

team

Brose Baskets Bamberg Baskets 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 six 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 Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, 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. T ...

of Spain for the 2014–15 ACB season on August 29. On June 4, 2015, he signed with

Vaqueros de Bayamón The ''vaquero'' (; , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in what what is today Mexico (then New Spain) and Spanish Florida from a method brought to the Americ ...

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 () 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 2022 Russian invasion of Ukr ...

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 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 Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, 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 EuroCup Basketball, EuroCup, and his Valencia Basket ...

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 (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League (the top tier of Israeli basketball), and internationally in the Basketball Champions League. The ...

of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

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 Hapoel Tel Aviv () is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as football, basketball, w ...

. On November 26, 2019, he parted ways with Holon. On November 28, 2019, Williams signed with

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 () 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 as football, basketball, j ...

2020–21 season

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

Anyang KGC The Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters () is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League, based at Anyang Gymnasium in the city of Anyang. The club has won four KBL championship titles ( 2011–12, 2016–17, 2020–21, and 2 ...

2021–22 season

On August 15, 2021, Williams signed with

Jeonju KCC Egis The Busan KCC Egis () is a professional basketball club based in Busan, South Korea. The team competes in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) and has established a substantial fanbase in South Korea. Founded in 1997, the team was initially based i ...

2022–23 season

In October 2022, Williams played for

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

in the 2022 Arab Club Basketball Championship.

2023–24 season

On September 16, 2023, Williams signed with Al-Ittihad Jeddah of the Saudi Basketball League.

Career statistics

Domestic leagues

References

External links