Brandon Williams had every reason to be skeptical. Two major knee surgeries, a promising but ultimately frustrating college career and being passed over in the G League draft can do that to a guy.
So here the former Arizona Wildcats guard was, at home in Los Angeles during the NBA All-Star break in February, when the phone rang.
After being given a 10-day NBA contract in December to help bail the Portland Trail Blazers out of a largely COVID-19-related roster shortfall, Williams had been back in the G League, waiting and hoping for another chance.
His agent, Sam Goldfelder, was on the other end of the line.
βHe was like, βWhere you at right now?ββ Williams said. Williams told Goldfelder he was in Los Angeles.
βHe said, βWell, youβre staying on the West Coast. Youβre going back up to Portland.β
βIβm thinking itβs another 10-day (contract), like itβs the same as it was during Christmas time. Iβm like, βAll right, for sure. Thatβs cool.β Then he was like, βNo, itβs permanent this time. They got you on a two-year, two-way (deal).β
βI dropped the phone. I ran upstairs told my mom and everything. It was a good moment. A surreal moment.β
Williams was back in the NBA, on a much more permanent basis. A two-way contract, in todayβs definition, means a salary of nearly $500,000 for essentially being one of a teamβs two developmental players, able to shuttle back and forth between the G League and NBA as a club deems necessary.
The Blazers gave Williams the same deal for next season, too, and the way Williams finished this season, posting the highest scoring average (13.0 points per game) of any undrafted rookie, suggests he isnβt going anywhere.
Trail Blazers guard Brandon Williams peers through the Jazz defense during the first half of their March 9 game.
It was the sort of level Williams was expected to reach as a five-star prospect early in his Crespi High School career, attracting offers from Arizona, Gonzaga, UCLA, USC and Kansas.
It was not the sort of level Williams was expected to reach after he left Arizona in the fall of 2020.
The only one of then-coach Sean Millerβs early class of 2018 commits to stick with the Wildcats after the FBI investigation into college basketball went public in 2017, Williams went on to start 21 of 26 games as a freshman for the Wildcats in 2018-19. He received honorable mention all-freshman honors in the Pac-12, but missed six games in the late season after a congenital issue flared up again on his right knee.
Already, Williams had missed nearly a calendar year of high school ball after surgery to help repair osteochondritis dissecans, which can result in bone and cartilage breaking free and causing pain or restricted motion above the knee.
Williams noticed swelling on his knee regularly while playing on the EYBL club circuit in 2016, and stayed out of the game for 10 months, missing the 2017 club season, then eased back and played most of his senior season at Crespi.
After the injury flared up again as a UA freshman, Williams faced a second surgery in the 2019 offseason.
βThe news of Brandonβs season-ending surgery is beyond disheartening,β UA coach Sean Miller said in an August 2019 statement. βAll of us that comprise Brandonβs Arizona basketball family, as well as our own loyal and passionate fan base, will rally around him and support him as he begins his journey to recovery.β
There was no telling where that journey would wind up. Williamsβ five-star talent had been shelved, at least temporarily.
Williams initially stayed at Arizona and sat out the 2019-20 season while rehabilitating, then left the Wildcats for good in the fall of 2020. He went back to Los Angeles to work out, with no clear future in sight.
But in a strange sort of way, the heavy COVID-19 restrictions of that year helped give him cover.
βIt was a lot on me mentally just because I wanted to be with the team,β Williams said. βBut when COVID happened, it was kind of relaxing. I took a step back from everything, mentally and physically, to get ready for whatever was next. I knew something was next. I was just motivated in my mind. I knew that like something was gonna eventually pop up. I just feel like I was too skilled and too talented.β
The hope never left β no matter what his body said, no matter what others thought.
He went on. Williams played in the Tampa Bay combine in the spring of 2021 and then was passed over in the 2021 NBA Draft, to no surprise.
βBeen away from the game for a while so he is on a totally different journey than the others,β Williamsβ stepfather, Chris Wright, told the Star last summer. βBut Iβm sure his dream will eventually come true.β
Would it? Under the surface, Williams had reason to believe so. His knee felt better, and so did his game.
But barely anyone knew it yet as the 2021-22 season approached.
Williams made himself available for the October 2021 G League draft. It went three rounds, and five teams didnβt even use all their picks.
Nobody spent one on Williams.
The Westchester Knicks were intrigued. They extended Williams a training camp invitation and soon found their starting point guard, even if a sprained ankle temporarily sapped Williamsβ confidence.
βWhen I got there, I didnβt really know what to expect. I hadnβt really played basketball for two years,β Williams said. βI didnβt know what my role was. I didnβt end up playing in a scrimmage against the Long Island Nets. I looked at (teammate) Myles Powell and told him I thought I was gonna get cut.β
Those words reached Ryan Borges, Westchesterβs director of basketball operations, and Williams said they have since joked about it. The club wasnβt about to cut him: Injuries were holding back Powell and another guard, Brandon Goodwin, while Williams was showing plenty of promise.
βHe was like, βYou really think you were going to get cut?ββ Williams said of Borges. βI said, βYeah, I really did.β I was nervous. I was new. I didnβt really know too much.β
Williams may have been battle-scarred and rusty from two years out of the game. But he was playing like an NBA prospect.
In his first G League regular-season game, Williams had 21 points, eight assists and only three turnovers. He topped that with 30 points and another eight assists to three turnovers a day later in his second game.
He was off. By the time the Trail Blazers signed him to a 10-day contract on Dec. 26, Williams was averaging 17.7 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.9 steals per game.
At the same time, Williams noticed a rash of G League players were receiving NBA call-ups in part because of the Omicron variant surge. By late December, the Trail Blazers had five players in health and safety protocols, and it was Williamsβ turn.
Portland signed Williams to a hardship 10-day contract.
βIt didnβt feel real at first,β Williams said. βI think it didnβt really hit until I got a fast-break layup. I was like, βWow.β The fans really clapped. I was talking to Dame (Lillard) in the huddle. I was trying to take full advantage. I didnβt know if I was ever going to get that chance again.β
Brandon Williams played well during his time with the Arizona Wildcats, but was limited by a congenital knee issue that had also cost him a year of high school.
His stay was even shorter than expected. Williams picked up his own case of coronavirus, and the virus limited him to just two games with Portland. He went back with the G League having collected just eight points, two rebounds and two assists over 12 total minutes with the Blazers.
βI didnβt know what kind of impression I left, if I left one at all,β Williams said.
But Williams had left one on himself.
He went back to Westchester a different player.
Williams said Lillard played a key role, telling him how to be aggressive, how to pick the right spots and play with pace. Lillard also taught him some things without saying a word.
βHe really showed me how to be a leader,β Williams said. βJust some of the things he did on the court β pointing to a guy, showing him what to do, and just being a leader.
βI took it back to the G League and used it to full effect. It was kind of fun being been in G League. And some of those things I took back to Westchester helped us win and build up a nice little chemistry.β
Williams wound up playing 23 games for Westchester over his two stints in 2021-22, averaging 22.3 points and 6.1 assists per game while shooting 45.1% from the field.
Notably, too, the team went 6-2 over his last eight games there.
Then, after the all-star break surprise, Williams kept that momentum going in Portland.
With Lillard out for the season following January surgery to repair an abdominal injury, and with the Blazers moving forward Trendon Watford from a two-way contract to a standard NBA deal, Portland had a two-way spot open for Williams to help at guard.
He jumped on the opportunity. Williams scored a combined 48 points over two consecutive games at Minnesota in early March, and wound up averaging 15.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game for the month.
Proving a bright spot for a team that finished the season on an 11-game losing streak, Williams showed a quick first step, good decision-making and shot-creating ability.
He was, finally, that five-star NBA prospect.
βI knew Brandon was as talented a guard as has been through here the last decade or so. It was always going to be up to his body,β said Arizona associate head coach Jack Murphy, who worked with Williams through his redshirt season of 2019-20. βI couldnβt be happier for him and his family. Heβs a great young man and very talented basketball player. I think his best days are in front of him.β
The Blazers may think so, too.
After he had his first NBA double-double, with 25 points and 12 assists against Oklahoma City on March 28, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said Williams did particularly well reading the defense and setting up multiple corner 3s for teammates.
βHeβs getting a lot better at that. A lot better,β Billups said. βI was happy to see him create some other offense for us outside of scoring. That is kind of his next level of growth but he showed a lot tonight. He was really good.β
Williams will have a chance to keep growing over the months to come, playing in the NBA Summer League and fall training camp. While he says the experience of the past few months will help his growth, Williams said he wonβt feel like heβs βmade itβ until he gets a standard NBA contract.
But if he continues to produce, he may not have to wait too long. And if it happens, Williams might slam the phone down this time.
