Gus Williams (basketball)

Gus Williams
	Williams in 1981
Personal information
Born	October 10, 1953 (age 71); Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school	Mount Vernon; (Mount Vernon, New York)
College	USC (1972–1975)
NBA draft	1975: 2nd round, 20th overall pick
	Selected by the Golden State Warriors
Playing career	1975–1987
Position	Point guard
Number	1
Career history
1975–1977	Golden State Warriors
1977–1984	Seattle SuperSonics
1984–1986	Washington Bullets
1987	Atlanta Hawks
Career highlights and awards
	NBA champion (1979); 2× NBA All-Star (1982, 1983); All-NBA First Team (1982); All-NBA Second Team (1980); NBA Comeback Player of the Year (1982); NBA All-Rookie First Team (1976); No. 1 retired by Seattle SuperSonics; Consensus second-team All-American (1975); First-team All-Pac-8 (1975); No. 10 retired by USC Trojans; Second-team Parade All-American (1971);
Career statistics
Points	14,093 (17.1 ppg)
Assists	4,597 (5.6 apg)
Steals	1,638 (2.0 spg)
	Stats at NBA.com
	Stats at Basketball Reference

Gus Williams (born October 10, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Wizard", he played for the Seattle SuperSonics, winning an NBA championship in 1979. He also played for the Golden State Warriors, Washington Bullets and Atlanta Hawks.

High school and college

Williams played high school basketball at Mount Vernon High in New York, where he was selected player of the year in 1971 by the New York State Sportswriters Association. He played college basketball at the University of Southern California.

Professional career

Williams was selected in the second round of the 1975 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors and in the first round of the 1975 ABA draft by the Spirits of St. Louis. Williams signed with the Warriors for the 1975–76 season and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in his first season.^[1] Williams played two seasons with the Warriors before he was allowed to leave as a free agent before the 1977–78 season, when he signed with the Seattle SuperSonics.

While with Seattle, Williams was twice selected to the NBA All-Star Game, and was an All-NBA First Team (1982) and All-NBA Second Team (1980) selection. Williams, whose style of play earned him the nickname "the Wizard",^[2] led the Sonics to the 1979 league title while averaging a team-high 28.6 points per game in the Finals.

While in the prime of his career, Williams sat out the entire 1980–81 season due to a contract dispute. He returned in 1981–82 and was named the NBA Comeback Player of the Year after finishing seventh in the league in scoring (23.4).^[3] He played three more seasons with the Sonics after that. In 1984, he signed with the Washington Bullets. During the 1984–85 season Williams played alongside the similarly named Guy Williams.

He finished his career with a 17.1 point-per-game scoring average in a career spanning 12 years from 1975 to 1987. In 2004 Williams' #1 jersey was retired by the Sonics. In 2016 Williams' jersey was retired by USC.

Williams' younger brother Ray (1954–2013) also played in the NBA.^[4]

Popular culture references

Williams is one of five 1970s Seattle SuperSonics players whose names are featured on characters in "The Exterminator," the third episode of Season 1 of iZombie. The other four are Freddie Brown, Wally Walker, Marvin Webster and Don Watts.^[5]

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
†	Won an NBA championship

Regular season


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1975–76	Golden State	77	–	22.4	.428	–	.742	2.1	3.1	1.8	0.3	11.7
1976–77	Golden State	82	–	23.5	.464	–	.747	2.8	3.6	1.5	0.2	9.3
1977–78	Seattle	79	–	32.6	.451	–	.817	3.2	3.7	2.3	0.5	18.1
1978–79†	Seattle	76	–	29.8	.495	–	.775	3.2	4.0	2.1	0.4	19.2
1979–80	Seattle	82	–	36.2	.482	.194	.788	3.4	4.8	2.4	0.5	22.1
1981–82	Seattle	80	80	36.0	.486	.225	.734	3.1	6.9	2.2	0.5	23.4
1982–83	Seattle	80	80	34.5	.477	.047	.751	2.6	8.0	2.3	0.3	20.0
1983–84	Seattle	80	80	35.2	.458	.160	.750	2.6	8.4	2.4	0.3	18.7
1984–85	Washington	79	78	37.5	.430	.290	.725	2.5	7.7	2.3	0.4	20.0
1985–86	Washington	77	67	29.7	.428	.259	.734	2.2	5.9	1.2	0.2	13.5
1986–87	Atlanta	33	0	14.6	.363	.278	.675	1.2	4.2	0.5	0.2	4.5
Career		825	385	31.1	.461	.238	.756	2.7	5.6	2.0	0.4	17.1
All-Star		2	1	20.5	.429	.000	1.000	1.5	6.5	1.0	0.0	14.0

Playoffs


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1976	Golden State	11	–	16.2	.353	–	.667	1.3	2.4	1.0	0.0	6.7
1977	Golden State	10	–	18.4	.500	–	.857	1.5	2.5	0.8	0.1	8.8
1978	Seattle	22	–	31.9	.477	–	.726	3.9	4.0	2.0	0.5	18.3
1979†	Seattle	17	–	36.4	.476	–	.709	4.1	3.7	2.0	0.6	26.7
1980	Seattle	15	–	37.6	.514	.200	.721	4.0	5.6	2.3	0.5	23.7
1982	Seattle	8	–	39.4	.441	.333	.786	3.3	8.1	1.6	0.6	26.3
1983	Seattle	2	–	40.5	.553	.000	.867	3.5	4.0	2.5	0.0	32.5
1984	Seattle	5	–	43.0	.510	.333	.714	2.4	11.4	1.6	0.6	23.4
1985	Washington	4	4	39.8	.423	.300	.750	2.0	5.0	1.3	0.3	18.0
1986	Washington	5	5	39.8	.481	.100	.778	2.0	6.6	2.2	0.0	18.2
Career		99	9	32.5	.476	.231	.737	3.1	4.7	1.8	0.4	19.5

Notes

^ "BasketballReference.com Gus Williams page". Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2008.
^ "Gus Williams". NBA.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2006.
^ "Gus wins comeback player award". The News Tribune. June 16, 1982. p. B-4. Retrieved April 13, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ BASN's Hometown Hero^[usurped], by Peter Vecsey; published on March 13, 2007
^ Nussbaum, Danielle. "iZombie recap: 'The Exterminator,'" Entertainment Weekly, Wednesday, April 1, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2023.

External links

[1] "BasketballReference.com Gus Williams page". Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2008.

[2] "Gus Williams". NBA.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2006.

[3] "Gus wins comeback player award". The News Tribune. June 16, 1982. p. B-4. Retrieved April 13, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

[4] BASN's Hometown Hero^[usurped], by Peter Vecsey; published on March 13, 2007

[5] Nussbaum, Danielle. "iZombie recap: 'The Exterminator,'" Entertainment Weekly, Wednesday, April 1, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2023.

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