What Happened to NBA Guard Jason Williams?
Those who watched Jason Williams play in the NBA likely have trouble forgetting about him. He had a ton of flair to his game and routinely wowed the crowd with his playmaking ability. Regardless of which jersey he wore, you could count on him to put on a show.
Williams’ teammates loved playing with him because he knew how to find the open man and always kept defenders on their toes. Throughout his career, he made many flashy passes, some of which left onlookers scratching their heads and trying to determine how he pulled them off.
The famed “White Chocolate” nickname had to come from somewhere, after all.
Jason Williams’ NBA career
The Sacramento Kings made Jason Williams the seventh overall pick of the 1998 NBA Draft, and he immediately became an integral part of a playoff-contending team. In his rookie season, Williams started 50 games and averaged 12.8 points and 6.0 assists.
Right away, the way Williams could find an open man and get him the ball was a sight to behold. And he did so with ease, too. Everything looked like it came together easily and naturally for him, which was true from the start as he earned a spot on the 1998-99 All-Rookie First Team.
After three seasons with the Kings, the point guard was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies and played on Beale Street for four seasons. In his first season with the Grizzlies, he averaged a career-high 14.8 points while continuing to showcase his flashy passing skills and ball-handling acumen. Over those four seasons, Williams helped lead Memphis to two playoff appearances.
His next stop was with the Miami Heat, and he joined the South Beach residents just in time to earn the 2005-06 NBA title — his first and only championship. He went on to play with the Orlando Magic before finishing his career with the Grizzlies.
Williams hung up the sneakers with eight playoff appearances and career averages of 10.5 points and 5.9 assists.
Where did the nickname ‘White Chocolate’ come from?
During his rookie year with the Kings, Stephanie Shepherd, a media relations assistant, gave Jason Williams the “White Chocolate” nickname because of his delectable style of play.
“I came up with that name because of his style,” she told the New York Times. “He has flash and pizazz. The way he does things with the ball is incredible to me. It reminds me of, like, schoolyard street ball when I go to Chicago.”
He embraced that nickname and continued to go out and play his game.
“It didn’t bother me at all,” Williams explained to Kevin Garnett in February 2017. “I look at the game. Once you go in between the lines, all the white, Black, that’s all out the door. If you can hoop, you can hoop.”
Where is Jason Williams now?
Jason Williams briefly resurfaced on the basketball circuit in 2017 as a member of BIG3, an up-and-coming three-on-three basketball league that drew plenty of former NBA players. But in his debut with the 3 Headed Monsters, he suffered a knee injury that prevented him from taking the court again.
Since then, when he’s not weighing in on hot basketball topics such as the classic Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James debate or suiting up in an All-Star Game Celebrity Game, he’s taken his talents to the links and hosts basketball camps to mentor young guards who could stand to learn a trick or two from one of the greatest ball-handlers of the modern era.
