Jason David Williams, also popularly known as Jay Williams is a former American basketball player. He was professionally associated with the famous Chicago Bulls team in the NBA league at the beginning of his career. The last NBA team he played for was the Austin Toros in the Development League for NBA. Williams was born on 10th September 1981 in Plainfield, New Jersey. His parents were David and Althea Williams and does not have any siblings. He attended the St. Joseph High School at Metuchen and graduated from there in 1999. Apart from showing excellence in playing basketball at an early age, Jay Williams was also fond of soccer, chess and volleyball.
Don't Miss: Robert Herjavec
During his stint at Duke University, Jay received the prestigious ACC Rookie of the year as well as National Freshman of The Year award which was conferred upon him by The Sporting News. The Basketball Times named him Freshman All-American. He played for the Blue Devils team and due to his excellent efforts; the Devils team won the NCAA National Championship in 2001. For this he was also awarded the NABC Player of the Year award. His prowess during college basketball leagues saw him win the Naismith and Wooden Awards respectively which are some of the most prestigious awards in college basketball league level.
In 2002, Jay Williams had a stroke of luck when Yao Ming, who was the first Choice for the Chicago Bulls, was selected by the Houston Rockets team. This in turn led to his selection in the Bulls team at the NBA. Williams also represented his country in the FIBA World Championships held in 2002. In the 2002-2003 seasons at the NBA, he was included in the Chicago Bulls starting team. Jay’s performance was inconsistent during his stint at the Bulls. However, he showed signs of promise and even scored a “triple-double” against the New Jersey Nets team which incidentally was also his home state team.
On 19th June 2003, an ill-fated accident was responsible for almost but ending his basketball career. On that night, he crashed his motorcycle in Chicago. He violated a number of laws and clauses in the course of this accident. He did not have a license to ride, did not wear a helmet and his contract with the Bulls forbade him to ride a motorcycle. The accident severely injured him and kept him out of action for a long time. He needed physiotherapy to regain walking. Due to this, the Chicago Bulls team management ended his contract giving him a 3 million dollars compensation package.
Jay Williams tried to make a comeback to NBA and on 28th September 2006, the New Jersey Nets signed him. However this stint was short-lived as the Nets released him on 22nd October of 2006. This led him to play for the Austin Toros Team in the NBA Development League but on 30th December 2006, the Toros ended their contract with him due to his injury. Thus Williams quit playing professional basketball.
Post his retirement, Jay worked as a basketball analyst for the ESPN and has also worked for CBS in 2008. His autobiography was released in 2016. The book is titled “Life Is Not an Accident: A Memoir of Reinvention”. At present, Visions Federal Credit Union has him as their spokesperson at Endwell, New York. Jay Williams has a net worth of 4 million dollars.
Last Modified: May 10, 2020
Related Biographies
