Jayson Williams (born February 22, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) for 11 seasons, primarily with the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. He played his first three seasons with 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 ...

, who acquired him in trade with the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

following the 1990 NBA draft. Williams spent the remainder of his career with the Nets and was an

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

in 1998. He was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. Williams was charged in 2002 with the accidental shooting death of a limousine driver. He pled guilty to

aggravated assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result ...

in 2010 and served a 27-month prison sentence.

Early life

Williams was born in Ritter, South Carolina, to Elijah Joshua "EJ" Williams and Barbara Williams. He is of Polish,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

descent. His mother Barbara worked for years at Gouverneur skilled nursing facility in lower Manhattan. Raised

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, Williams moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

at the age of twelve and attended Christ The King Regional High School and St. John's University, both in New York City, and played on the basketball team at both.

Professional career

Williams was selected by the

in the first round with the 21st pick of the 1990 NBA draft. His draft rights were thereafter traded by the Suns to the

for a 1993 first-round draft choice on October 28, 1990. After two seasons as a bench player with the 76ers, Williams was traded to the

for conditional draft choices on October 8, 1992. While with the Nets, Williams only earned 12 starts in his first three seasons with the team before finally earning a full-time starting position in the 1996–97 season. In the first game of the following season, Williams set a franchise record with 17 offensive rebounds (20 total) in a win over 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 Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. In that 1997–98

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, Williams was named an All Star. He led the league in offensive rebounds and offensive rebound percentage while also finishing the season in the top five in total rebounds, rebounds per game, total rebound percentage and offensive rating.

Injury and retirement

Williams' career came to a sudden end on April 1, 1999, after he broke his right leg in a collision with teammate

Stephon Marbury Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who was also the head coach for the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) from 2019–2023. After his freshman year ...

in a game against the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

. The following day, Williams underwent career-ending surgery in which a plate and five screws were inserted into his leg. After sitting out the entire 1999–2000 season, Williams officially announced his retirement on June 28, 2000, at the age of 32 after 11 seasons. At the time of the injury, Williams was in the first year of a six-year, $90 million contract. In 2005, he briefly came out of retirement to play for the Idaho Stampede of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

Legal incidents

In 1992, Williams was accused of breaking a beer mug over a patron's head at a saloon in Chicago. In 1994, Williams was accused of firing a semiautomatic weapon into the parking lot at the

Meadowlands Sports Complex The Meadowlands Sports Complex is a sports complex located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The facility is owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA). It is named for the New Jersey Meadowlands ...

. He was never criminally charged in either case.

The death of Gus Christofi

On February 14, 2002, 55-year-old

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...

driver Costas "Gus" Christofi was shot and killed at Williams's estate in Alexandria Township, New Jersey. Christofi had been hired to drive Williams's NBA charity team from a

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

, event to his

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

, about northwest of

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

. Members of Williams's NBA charity basketball team were present at the scene. The ''New York Post'' reported that Williams was showing people around his house when he aimed a shotgun at Christofi and killed him.

Initial trial and appeal

In April 2004, Williams was acquitted of the more serious charges against him, but the court's jury deadlocked on a charge of reckless

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

. He was convicted on four counts of trying to cover up the shooting. On April 21, 2006, a Hunterdon County appeals court ruled that Williams could be retried on a reckless

charge.

Suicidal agitation

The

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

(NYPD) reported on April 27, 2009, that Williams had become suicidal and violent in a NYC hotel room. Upon entering the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

hotel room police said that Williams was visibly intoxicated, and that empty bottles of prescription medications were found around the room. Officers stunned him with a taser and took him to a hospital.

Bar fight

A few weeks after the NYC tasering incident, on May 24, 2009, Williams allegedly punched a man in the face at a bar in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. He was charged with simple assault. The charges were later dropped.

Drunken car accident

A few days before an important courtroom appearance, Williams crashed his Mercedes into a tree in lower Manhattan. He was charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) after this early morning accident on January 5, 2010.

Convictions and sentencing

On January 11, 2010, Williams pleaded guilty to

in the 2002 death of Christofi. A month later, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison with possible parole after 18 months. He was convicted and sentenced to an additional year in

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a prison island in the East River in the Bronx, New York (state), New York, United States, that contains New York City's largest jail. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was orig ...

for the DWI. of which he served 8 months. Williams was ultimately released from prison in April 2012.

Effects of prison

After being released from his 27 months in prison, Williams told

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

: "I don't want to see anybody in a cage, man. Everybody thinks they're so tough... I've never seen a newbie go to jail and not cry the first two months every night, scream and have to get suicide prevention in front of his cell." At that time, Williams reported being haunted not only by the shooting but also by how that incident contributed to the death of his own father: "I struggle with the loss of lives. The loss of Mr. Christofi and the loss of my father. An hour doesn't go by that I don't think about he accident think about how can I replay this as to bring back Mr. Christofi. And not one person died that night, two people died. My dad had never been in the hospital in 70 years. That's the ripple effect."

Indoor lacrosse

Williams was the principal owner of the

New Jersey Storm The New Jersey Storm were a member of the National Lacrosse League, based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. They played from 2002 NLL season, 2002 to 2003 NLL season, 2003 playing at the then Continental Airlines Arena. The team was an expansion t ...

of the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

(NLL). The franchise operated for two seasons,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, before moving to

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

, and becoming the Anaheim Storm. The team went out of business before the start of the 2006 season.

Books

Following his NBA retirement, Williams wrote ''Loose Balls'', a memoir that was published in 2001. Intended to be a humorous perspective on his life in the NBA, later readers noted that the book contained nine separate episodes in which Williams behaved recklessly with guns. In one incident, the former NFL football player Wayne Chrebet was nearly shot. In another, the uncle of

Manute Bol Manute Bol ( ; June 19, 2010) was a Sudanese-American professional basketball player and political activist. Listed at or tall, Bol was one of the two tallest players in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After he p ...

was threatened with an unloaded handgun. In 2012, Williams published a second book, an autobiography entitled ''Humbled ~ Letters From Prison''. The book included revelations about his having been abused as a child. A third book, ''Crashing: A Memoir'', was published in December 2018.

Personal life

In 1996, Williams proposed during halftime of a nationally televised basketball game to model Cynthia Bailey. The two later parted. Williams married Kellie Batiste in December 1999; they divorced soon afterward. In 2000, he married Tanya Young and together they had two daughters. The couple divorced in 2011. Young was a cast member of VH1's reality TV show '' Basketball Wives: LA''. Williams' father, Elijah Joshua Williams, died of a stroke at the age of 76 in November 2009. Williams had three sisters, with two having died from AIDS (one after a blood transfusion following a mugging), while his third sister was killed by her husband in a murder-suicide.

Legacy

Williams was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2016 and into the St. John's University athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1990–91 , style="text-align:left;",

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 52 , , 1 , , 9.8 , , .447 , , .500 , , .661 , , 2.1 , , .3 , , .2 , , .1 , , 3.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1991–92 , style="text-align:left;",

, 50 , , 8 , , 12.9 , , .364 , , , , .636 , , 2.9 , , .2 , , .4 , , .4 , , 4.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1992–93 , style="text-align:left;",

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, 12 , , 2 , , 11.6 , , .457 , , , , .389 , , 3.4 , , .0 , , .3 , , .3 , , 4.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1993–94 , style="text-align:left;",

, 70 , , 0 , , 12.5 , , .427 , , , , .605 , , 3.8 , , .4 , , .2 , , .5 , , 4.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1994–95 , style="text-align:left;",

, 75 , , 6 , , 13.1 , , .461 , , .000 , , .533 , , 5.7 , , .5 , , .3 , , .4 , , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1995–96 , style="text-align:left;",

, 80 , , 6 , , 23.2 , , .423 , , .286 , , .592 , , 10.0 , , .6 , , .4 , , .7 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1996–97 , style="text-align:left;",

, 41 , , 40 , , 34.9 , , .409 , , .000 , , .590 , , 13.5 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .9 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1997–98 , style="text-align:left;",

, 65 , , 65 , , 36.0 , , .498 , , .000 , , .666 , , 13.6 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .8 , , 12.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1998–99 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 34.0 , , .445 , , .000 , , .565 , , 12.0 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , 2.0 , , 8.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 475 , , 158 , , 20.6 , , .440 , , .125 , , .606 , , 7.5 , , .6 , , .4 , , .6 , , 7.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 1 , , 0 , , 19.0 , , .667 , , , , , , 10.0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 4.0

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 4 , , 0 , , 2.5 , , .800 , , , , , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 0 , , 8.5 , , .000 , , , , .500 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 3 , , 2 , , 38.7 , , .429 , , , , .500 , , 14.0 , , 1.7 , , .7 , , 1.0 , , 7.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 9 , , 2 , , 15.9 , , .448 , , , , .500 , , 5.4 , , .6 , , .2 , , .3 , , 3.3

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jayson 1968 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American criminals 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers African-American Catholics African-American non-fiction writers American autobiographers American male non-fiction writers American men's basketball players American people convicted of assault American people of Polish descent American prisoners and detainees American sportspeople convicted of crimes American writers of Italian descent Basketball players from Hunterdon County, New Jersey Basketball players from South Carolina Centers (basketball) Criminals from New Jersey Idaho Stampede (CBA) players NBA All-Stars NBA broadcasters New Jersey Nets players People from Alexandria Township, New Jersey People from Colleton County, South Carolina Philadelphia 76ers players Phoenix Suns draft picks Power forwards Prisoners and detainees of New Jersey St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players Writers from Hunterdon County, New Jersey

Early life

Professional career

Injury and retirement

Legal incidents

The death of Gus Christofi

Initial trial and appeal

Suicidal agitation

Bar fight

Drunken car accident

Convictions and sentencing

Effects of prison

Indoor lacrosse

Books

Personal life

Legacy

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

Further reading

External links