Courtney Monae Williams (born May 11, 1994) 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 the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA). Williams completed her high school basketball career at Charlton County High School. She signed with the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

and enrolled at the school in the fall of 2012.

Early life

Williams grew up in Folkston, Georgia, a town with under 5,000 people. In her childhood she slept with a basketball and said she wanted to play in the WNBA. Her father said that she "didn’t play with dolls or any of that growing up. She was jumping on my dirt bike, riding four-wheelers. Mostly, though, she was hanging with the fellas out there on the court banging and balling.” She played basketball for the Indians at Charlton County High School. Her mother Michelle Williams (then Michelle Granger) also played basketball for the same high school 22 years earlier. Michelle set the single-game scoring record when she scored 40 points. In her junior season, Williams took over the record by scoring 42 points in a game. She later broke her own record by scoring 44 points in a game. Williams credits her father, Donald Williams, with challenging her athletically too. Her father advised her to develop her midrange because of her smaller size in high school. "My daddy told me to get a little middy so I wouldn’t get hurt,” illiamssaid with a laugh. “It kind of became my identity.” Her father also wouldn't let her play basketball for her high school during her sophomore year as punishment for sneaking out of the house to spend time with someone he thought was trouble. Her mother let her continue to play AAU basketball that year. In her senior year, she led her team to the state semifinals. In the quarterfinals she scored 47 points. She was named to the first team for all state in Georgia but was left off the senior all-star game.

College career

Williams was a solid role player coming off the bench in her first season with the

South Florida Bulls The South Florida Bulls (also known as the USF Bulls) are the athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. USF competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the American Athletic Conference for all sports besides sailing, a n ...

. she appeared in every game and started in 3. She averaged 7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and .88 assists over 33 games. In William's sophomore year she averaged 30.4 minutes a game compared to her 15.3 coming off the bench the season before. She finished the year with 16.3 points a game along with 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists. She was named All-Conference First team and was an Honorable Mention for the All-American team. She was a starter in every game her junior season and averaged 20.3 points per game which led the AAC. Overall she was the ninth leading scorer in the country with 20 or more points in 20 different games. During one stretch of 10 game she scored over 20 points in each game which is the longest streak in the nation at the time. In her senior year Williams hit 308 field goals which was second in the nation among all Division I teams. She scored 763 points which was eighth best among all Division I players. Williams was inducted into the University of South Florida Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 and her number 10 jersey is retired by the team. University of Connecticut head coach

Geno Auriemma Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. He holds the NCAA basketball records for wins and winning percentage with a mi ...

said of Williams, "She was just a really difficult match up for anybody and I don’t think there’s anybody in college who really had an answer for her on a regular basis."

Professional career

WNBA

Phoenix Mercury

Williams was selected as the eighth overall pick by the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

in the 2016 WNBA draft. She was surprised by the selection since she didn't have many pre draft discussions with the Mercury. Williams has identified

Diana Taurasi Diana Lorena Taurasi (born June 11, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for 20 seasons, spending her entire career with the Phoenix Mercury. Taurasi is widely ...

as a player who “I look up to and who I compare my mentality to”, and now she will be playing on the same team as Taurasi. After appearing in a handful of games for the Mercury, Williams was traded to the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Sun compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team i ...

on June 26, 2016.

Connecticut Sun (2016–2019)

encouraged the Sun coach Curt Miller to give Williams a chance as a player who could go out and get points; "There’s nobody that I know that can stop her from doing that.’” Williams helped the Sun reach the WNBA Finals during the 2019 season, before they ultimately lost to the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...

. During the 2019 season, Williams was also honored by the league with a Player of the Week nod.

Atlanta Dream (2020–2021)

On February 19, 2020, Williams was traded to the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Dream compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the ...

as part of a three-team trade. Williams went on to earn her first All-Star appearance with the Dream in 2021. In October 2021, Williams (along with teammate Crystal Bradford) was released from her contract after a video of them circulated through various media outlets of their involvement in a fight outside of an Atlanta area

food truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van or multi-stop truck) or trailer equipped to store, transport, cook, prepare, serve and/or sell food. Some food trucks, such as ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food, but m ...

Connecticut Sun (2022)

The Connecticut Sun re-signed Williams for the 2022 WNBA season.

Chicago Sky (2023)

On February 4, 2023, the

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

announced the signing of Williams. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, per team policy. The Sky asked Williams to switch to playing point guard. Although she was reluctant to begin with, she finished the season fourth in the league in assists per game. Williams said the position switch "felt like a whole new world opened up for me." Courtney Williams guards Leonie Fiebich

Minnesota Lynx (2024–present)

On January 31, 2024, Williams signed a two-year guaranteed deal with the

. In free agency she expressed a desire for stability in playing for a team longer term. Williams ruptured a right thumb ligament in training camp and played through it until the Olympic break allowed enough healing time. In the June 14, 2024, Lynx home game against the Sparks, Williams became only the 4th WNBA player to have 15+ points, 10+ assists, 8+ rebounds, and 4+ steals. After the October 4, 2024, semifinals Lynx win over the

Cheryl Reeve Cheryl Reeve (born September 20, 1966) is an American basketball head coach and President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA. Reeve has coached the Lynx to four league championshi ...

said that Williams's "way with this team is exactly what was missing from our team last year. The toughness, the swag, the dog, and all of those things, the belief. But not just in her ability to score the ball, but also her ability to play make to make our team better." Reeve has had Williams playing the point guard position, a new role for Williams that started with her play for the Chicago Sky. Williams' trash talk was noted in the semifinals against the Sun, but she says her style is to remain light. Williams is known for her midrange shooting; she leads the WNBA in midrange attempts with 6.9 per game, while shooting 46.2%. In the 2024 season, 57.5% of her points were made in the midrange. In the October 8, 2024, game 5 semifinals Lynx win against the Connecticut Sun, Williams "had her most points in a playoff game since 2019" with 24 points; she also had seven assists, five rebounds, and two steals.In Game 1 of the finals against the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Confer ...

on October 10, 2024, Williams became only the second in Lynx franchise history to have 20+ points, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ assists in back-to-back playoffs games. Maya Moore had been the only Lynx player to do that before Williams. Williams played a clutch role for the team in their historic comeback win by scoring 8 of the last 10 points in regulation and 5 of the last 7 in overtime. Her four-point play with 5.5 seconds left in the game gave the Lynx their first lead.

International play

On August 10, 2017, Williams signed with the

Perth Lynx The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at both WA Basketball Centre, Bendat Basketball Centre ...

for the

2017–18 WNBL season The 2017–18 WNBL season was the 38th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The regular season began on 5 October 2017, with the Melbourne Boomers visiting the Dandenong Rangers. The Sydney Uni Flames were the defending ch ...

. Williams was named to the WNBL Team of the Week on 14 November 2017, after a 26-point performance against the University of Canberra Capitals. The following week, Williams was named WNBL Player of the Week, after tallying 37 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists across a pair of victories. Williams was a key contributor in the Perth Lynx's historic 14 game winning streak, resulting in the team finishing the regular season on top of the ladder. Williams finished the WNBL regular season averaging 21.7 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.1 APG, 2.25 STPG and 0.9 BLKPG.

Athletes Unlimited

Williams played for Athletes Unlimited in the 2022 season.

Unrivaled

On October 9, 2024, Unrivaled announced that Williams would play in the inaugural 2025 season for the new league. She was selected for Lunar Owls.

National team career

Williams was selected as one of 12 players to play for the US at the 2015 World University games, held in Gwangju, South Korea in July 2015. The USA team opened with a win over Italy. In the second game against China, Williams was the leading scorer with 18 points. The USA team won the next two points to earn a berth in the semifinal against Japan. The USA team was down by 15 points, but came back to tie the game up and send the game into overtime. The teams matched scores in the first overtime and went into double overtime for the first time in World University Games history. With 10 seconds left in the second overtime, Japan cut the lead to two points but Williams hit two free throws to secure the victory. Williams recorded a double double, scoring 17 points and securing 10 rebounds. The gold-medal game was against Canada. The USA won the gold-medal 82–63 with Williams again contributing a double double, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Williams was selected for the 2017–2020 USA Women's Basketball National Team pool and participated in National Team training camp in 2022 as well.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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, 34 , , 28 , , 26.0 , , .473 , , .324 , , .878 , , 4.2 , , 2.1 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 1.4 , , 12.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

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Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

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Playoffs

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College

Source

Personal life

Williams is the daughter of Michele and Donald Williams, and has one sister, Doniece. Her father is a visible supporter when in attendance at her games, dancing, cheering, and high fiving fans. He describes watching his daughter play well in the postseason as "euphoria," and Williams credits her father with "always instilling confidence in me. ... I try to put on a show for him." Outside of playing basketball, she does day and night trading. She has an American bulldog. Williams is openly queer, and her relationship with real estate broker N'Shya was featured in a video in the WNBA Pride is Love series in 2024.

Awards and honors

* 2014—

AAC AAC may refer to: Aviation * Advanced Aircraft, a company from Carlsbad, California * Airborne aircraft carrier, a type of aircraft * Alaskan Air Command, a radar network * American Aeronautical Corporation, a company from Port Washington, New ...

First team * 2014–15 added to watchlist for the Wooden Award, Dawn Staley award, the

Naismith Trophy The Naismith Trophy is a trophy awarded to the men's champion of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, and is named in honor of basketball's inventor, James Naismith. The trophy was first awarded to the winner of the 1967 FIBA World Championship. The ...

, and the

Wade Trophy The Wade Trophy is an award presented annually to the best upperclass women's basketball player in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I competition. It is named after three–time national champion Delta State ...

* 2015—AP All-America honorable mention * 2016—

First team (unanimous) * 2016—AAC Scholar-Athlete

References

External links

*Career statistics and player information fro
WNBA.com
an
Courtney Williams
at Athletes Unlimited * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Courtney 1994 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream players Basketball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Chicago Sky players Connecticut Sun players Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players LGBTQ basketball players LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) American lesbian sportswomen Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Minnesota Lynx players Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in basketball People from Charlton County, Georgia Phoenix Mercury draft picks Phoenix Mercury players Point guards South Florida Bulls women's basketball players United States women's national basketball team players Unrivaled basketball players WNBA All-Stars 21st-century American sportswomen Athletes Unlimited basketball players