American basketball player
Eric C. Williams
(born July 17, 1972) is an American former professional
basketball
player who played in the
National Basketball Association
(NBA) from 1995 to 2007. He played for seven teams during his career, including two stints with the
Boston Celtics
.
Career
[
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]
Following a collegiate career which began at
Burlington County College
in
New Jersey
, then two years at
Vincennes University
in
Indiana
, followed by
Providence College
in
Rhode Island
,
[1]
the 6' 8"
small forward
was selected by the
Boston Celtics
with the 14th pick in the
1995 NBA draft
. He played two years with them before being traded to the
Denver Nuggets
during the 1997 offseason for a couple of second round draft picks. The Nuggets only got four games out of Williams during the 1997-98 campaign due to him tearing the
anterior cruciate ligament
in his right knee. The following season, he returned, but only played in 38 of 82 regular season games with Denver before they repatriated him back to Boston along with
Danny Fortson
and
Eric Washington
plus a future draft pick in exchange for
Ron Mercer
,
Ronald "Popeye" Jones
, and
Dwayne Schintzius
. His second tenure with the Celtics lasted over four seasons until they traded him to the
Cleveland Cavaliers
along with
Tony Battie
and
Kedrick Brown
in a swap for
Ricky Davis
,
Chris Mihm
,
Michael Stewart
, and a second round draft pick on December 15, 2003. He became a free agent after 50 games with the Cavaliers, and signed with the
New Jersey Nets
prior to the 2004?05 season. Williams was soon part of a blockbuster player trade when the Nets sent him,
Aaron Williams
,
Alonzo Mourning
and two future first-round draft picks to the
Toronto Raptors
for franchise player
Vince Carter
.
In 2005, Williams decided to launch his own line of clothing honoring the fictional Negro Basketball League.
[2]
On June 21, 2006, Williams was traded with
Matt Bonner
and a second round pick in the
2009 NBA draft
to San Antonio for
Rasho Nesterovi?
and cash.
[3]
On February 13, 2007 he was traded along with the 2nd round pick in the
2009 NBA draft
that the Spurs got from the Raptors to the
Charlotte Bobcats
for
Melvin Ely
. On March 16, Williams was waived by the Bobcats to make room for
Alan Anderson
.
[4]
He holds career averages of 8.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
[5]
Life outside basketball
[
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]
Williams, whose wife was Jennifer Williams from 2007 to 2011, appeared in multiple episodes of the reality TV show
Basketball Wives
from seasons 1?4.
[6]
Eric also went on to appear in the 2013 film
The Caribbean Heist
.
[7]
In 2015 Williams was featured in the painting, "Freedom from What," an artwork by Pops Peterson based on "
Freedom from Fear
" by
Norman Rockwell
.
[8]
[9]
Career statistics
[
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]
Source
[5]
Regular season
[
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]
Playoffs
[
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]
References
[
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]