Jason Williams is a very known former professional NBA basketball player from West Virginia who played in a position of a point guard and was playing for the Memphis Grizzlies as his last team.
Early years
He was born as Jason Chandler Williams on November 18, 1975, in a town named Belle in West Virginia in the United States. He was educated at DuPont High School where he soon gained a position in the school’s basketball team.
He was one of the most important players in the team and was one of the players that helped the team to reach the finals in the high school league which was a big success for the school so he was praised for his performance.
He broke a record in the school’s team as the only player in the team that succeeded in making 1000 points during his time in the school, and also 500 assists at the same time.This is quite a big number for one person only to achieve.
In 1994, he was named as the Player of the Year for West Virginia district by USA Today Daily newspaper. This was a pretty big thing and he knew that he would get the right media attention if he continued this way.
At the same time, he played in the DuPont team and another later known football player called Randy Moss was one of his teammates at DuPont. This was something that he had been wanting to achieve, but soon after entering, realized that he will surely need to move on quick to become famous.
Although Jason obligated himself to Providence College and their basketball team, he later changed his decision and chose another college – the Marshall University. The reason for that was the fact that Providence College changed its head basketball coach.
He became a valuable player for Marshall’s basketball team called “Thundering Herd” in a period of two years (1994-1996). There he was coached by Billy Donovan, a very respectable football coach.
In 1996, he transferred to the University of Florida because his coach took the position of Florida’s basketball team so he followed him there due to their great collaboration.
He couldn’t play basketball in that 96/97 season because he transferred from another college but in 1997/98 season he became their point guard.
He started playing for the Florida Gators and started off really great.
He had great average points in that season but he was suspended in 1998 due to marijuana abuse and because of his prior two warnings about the same offense.
This caused quite a lot of controversy because people started to judge him and the media was trying to get the most out of the story. It took a while until it was forgotten.
His teammates tried to warn him that he is not taking the team rules serious enough but he always laughed at it. After he was suspended he became even more notorious. This was something that he really didnt want to encounter in his career, but had to move past. It wasnt his proudest moment, but he started to work hard to get back to the top.
Career development
After he was suspended by the University he made a career choice and he became eligible for the NBA and didn’t want to wait.
He was chosen by Sacramento Kings in 1998 and was their 7th choice. He wore a jersey with the number 55 and that same jersey entered the top five highest selling ones in the whole NBA while he was just a rookie.
In 2000, he was suspended in NBA for the first time because he wasn’t involved in the obligatory NBA anti-drug program like all other players.
In 2001, he was involved in a controversy which took place in the court when Williams spoke racist slurs to Golden State Warriors fans during one game in February 2001. Many people gave up on him during that moment because they thought he got a bit smarter after the marijuana incident, but it obviously wasnt like that.
He was fined for it with $15, 000 and lost a big endorsement deal with Nike because of it.
He later apologized and it was discovered that he was provoked but he still lost a lot of his fans and promoters.
In 2001 he was traded to Vancouver Grizzlies and started playing in a team coached by Hubie Brown which became a very successful team. They have reached the 2005 playoffs where they lost from the Phoenix Suns.
He was again involved in a controversy, this time involving a columnist Geoff Calkins. It seems that Geoff offended Williams in his column so he shouted at him and took his pen. He was fined again, this time with $10,000. He really didnt want to be fined and suffer once again, but he did it to himself and knew that he needed a change.
In 2005, he was traded to the Miami Heat, together with James Posey. He became a great asset for the club and was the 3rd leading scorer in the team. He also collected over 100 3-point shots in the season.
It was in the 2005/6 season in which they defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals. It was the first NBA championship ring for Williams and the only in his career.
In 2006/07 his play dropped and he was one of the players that were blamed for leaving playoffs in the very first round.
In 2007/08 he improved his game and even gained two double-doubles in games against Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns which were extremely powerful at that time.
In 2008, he joined the Los Angeles Clippers but had signed a contract at only one year. Just a few months later he retired from the NBA because of his constant injuries and pain.
But his retirement didn’t last long because he was missing playing basketball and after just one year he was tired of being retired.
In 2009 he decided to end retirement and get back into the game so he signed a contract with Orlando Magic.
This way he became reunited with Stan Van Gundy who was his coach earlier in Miami. With him in the team, Orlando made it to the finals of the Eastern Conference. He signed a new contract with the team in 2010.
At the end of that year, he had to undergo a knee surgery which was not easy to recover from and was released from the team in 2011.
He changed teams and became a player for the Memphis Grizzlies in a period of two years. In the summer of 2011, he decided to retire, this time for good.
Jason made a decision to spend more time with his children, especially playing sports with them.
He had an interesting nickname while he was playing basketball: “White Chocolate”. He was sometimes also called “J-Will” and “J-Dub”.
In 2017 he played for the 3 headed teams in BIG3 basketball league but was soon injured and missed other games.
Personal life
He has a tattoo on his knuckles which says: “Whiteboy”. This has also caused quite some controversy since people dont understand why did he get it. Many connect it to media controversy related to racist slurs he had made, while others believe it was a nickname of his.
As for his personal life, he kept it very private and spend all of his time with his family. He got married to Denika Kisty, who was also an athlete who played for Florida Gators track and field university team.
They are together from his college days and she was beside him when he heard that he was chosen by the Sacramento Kings on his draft.
They have 3 kids together and seem to have a pleasant life together.
His oldest son Jaxon is a big fan of basketball like his dad so he is training very hard. A lot of people already call him “White Chocolate Jr.”
He is a neighbor to Shaquille O’Neal, his former teammate, and the two of them became very good friends.
He is impressed by him and his style and the way he played while he was in the game.
Williams is a big fan of tattoos: he has a panther and a dragon on his arms and an eye on his chest. He tattooed all his children’s named on his forearm.
In 2003, Williams founded a charity foundation called “We Will Foundation” which raises awareness and collect funds for children who need facial surgery. In his retirement, he spends a lot of time coaching in local clubs.
He had a terrible experience in his youth which made him learn about death very early. His friend was killed and he had trouble overcoming it.
He even stopped playing basketball for a while which was very strange. He made himself a promise to support his friend’s family when he would become a known player.
Quick summary
Full name: Jason Chandler Williams
Date of birth: November 17, 1985
Birthplace: Belle, West Virginia, United States
Age: 34
Profession: NBA basketball player
Height: 185 cm
Weight: 82 kgs
Net Worth: $20 million