Matthew Williams Jr. (born October 14, 1993) 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. Born and raised in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, Williams played

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 ...

for the

UCF Knights The UCF Knights are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NC ...

College career

Williams came to the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

from Jones High School in Orlando. He suffered several medical setbacks as he suffered a burst appendix as a freshman, then played through knee pain as a sophomore. Early in his junior season, Williams had tests and learned that his knee pain was due to inferior bipartite patella, a rare congenital condition requiring surgery. Williams had the surgery, missing the majority of that season. Following his redshirt junior season, Williams graduated from UCF and entertained transferring for his remaining year of collegiate eligibility. He originally chose to transfer to Wake Forest, but ultimately changed his mind and returned to UCF for his final year to play for new Knights coach

Johnny Dawkins Johnny Earl Dawkins Jr. (born September 28, 1963) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the UCF men's basketball team. From 2008 to 2016, he was the head coach of Stanford. He was a two-time All-American an ...

. In his fifth year, Williams upped his scoring average from 8.1 to 15.1 points per game, helping lead the Knights to the semifinals of the

2017 National Invitation Tournament The 2017 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2017 NCAA tournament. The annual tournament was played on campus sites in the first three round ...

. Williams finished his UCF career as the school's leader in three-pointers for a career (274), season (126) and game (11). The season and game marks were also

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

records.

Professional career

Miami Heat/Sioux Falls Skyforce (2017–2018)

Following the close of his college career, Williams played for 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 ...

in the 2017 NBA Summer League. At the end of the league, he signed with the Heat for the 2017–18 season. On October 15, his contract was converted to a two-way deal, meaning he'd be able to split playing time between the Heat and their

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

affiliate, the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team has played its home games in the Sanford Pentagon since the 2013–14 ...

. He spent the first week of the season with the Heat before an assignment in the G-League. He was then recalled on December 20 as the Heat endured several simultaneous injuries. Williams played 3 minutes, posting a rebound and 4 assists against 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 ...

on December 23. He appeared in a total of 3 games, tallying 5 points and a rebound in 11 minutes of action before he was waived on New Year's Eve in order for the team to sign Derrick Jones Jr. Williams was later reacquired by the

KTP and Kymi (2018–2019)

On September 12, 2018, Williams joined

KTP Basket Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat Basket, shortly KTP Basket, is the largely independent basketball team of Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat, a Finnish sports club based in Kotka, and has played in the Korisliiga since 1957. The club has won the Finnish c ...

of the Finnish

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

. In January 2019, Williams signed with Kymi of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

. In 12 GBL games, Williams averaged 8.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in 26 minutes per game.

Donar (2019–2020)

On July 16, 2019, Williams signed with Donar of the

Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

. The 2019–20 season was cancelled prematurely in March because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and Williams returned to the United States. He averaged 14.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 21 DBL games.

Cimarrones Caribbean Storm (2020–2021)

Williams spent the 2020–21 season in Colombia with the Cimarrones Caribbean Storm, averaging 7.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

GTK Gliwice (2021)

On August 11, 2021, Williams signed with

GTK Gliwice Gliwickie Towarzystwo Koszykówki Gliwice, shortly GTK Gliwice, is a professional basketball club based in Gliwice, Poland. The team currently (as of 2022–23 PLK season, 2022–23) plays in the Polish Basketball League, the country's top divisio ...

of the

Polish Basketball League Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) (English language, English: Polish Basketball League), officially known as the Orlen Basket Liga due to its sponsorship by Orlen, is a professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Poland. I ...

. In 13 games, he averaged 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game.

Lavrio (2021–2022)

On December 11, 2021, Williams officially returned to Greece, signing with BCL club

Lavrio Lavrio, Lavrion or Laurium (; (later ); from Middle Ages until 1908: Εργαστήρια ''Ergastiria'') is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greece. It is part of Athens metropolitan area and the seat of the municipality of Lavreotiki ...

. In 14 games, he averaged only 4.6 points, 1 rebound and 0.5 assists, playing around 18 minutes per game.

Supersónicos de Miranda (2022)

In July 2022, Williams signed with the Supersónicos de Miranda of the Venezuelan SuperLiga.

Career statistics

NBA

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Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

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References

External links

UCF Knights bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Matt 1993 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Colombia American expatriate basketball people in Finland American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela American men's basketball players Basketball players from Orlando, Florida Donar (basketball club) players Dutch Basketball League players GTK Gliwice players KTP-Basket players Kymis B.C. players Lavrio B.C. players Miami Heat players Shooting guards Sioux Falls Skyforce players UCF Knights men's basketball players Undrafted NBA players 21st-century American sportsmen