What Is Jay Williams' Net Worth?
Jay Williams is an American retired professional basketball player, television analyst, producer, and author who has a net worth of $4 million. Jay Williams played for Duke University, and in 2002, he won the Wooden Award and Naismith Award, which are given to the country's top college basketball players. Jay was the second overall draft pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, and he played for the Chicago Bulls until a June 2003 motorcycle accident resulted in the team waiving him. Williams later joined the NBA Development League team the Austin Toros, but he was waived after three games because of lingering effects from the motorcycle accident.
Since his retirement from professional basketball, Jay has worked for ESPN as an NBA analyst, and in 2019, he was assigned to the network's NBA Countdown program. He has served as a producer on "SportsCenter" (2020), "Get Up" (2020–2021), "ESPN NBA Countdown" (2020–2021), "Keyshawn, JWill and Zubin" (2020–2022), "ESPN First Take" (2020–2022), and "NBA on ESPN" (2021), and he published the book "Life Is Not an Accident: A Memoir of Reinvention" in 2016. Williams also co-founded the management consulting firm Simatree and co-owns the restaurant The CabinNYC, and in 2021, he launched the NPR podcast "The Limits with Jay Williams." Jay was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
Contracts and Career Earnings
Jay Williams was the second overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft and signed a three-year contract with the Bulls worth $11.47 million. During his brief career, Williams earned approximately $13.5 million in total salary and endorsements. He also had a shoe deal with Reebok and appeared in several television commercials.
Early Life
Jay Williams was born Jason David Williams on September 10, 1981, in Plainfield, New Jersey. He graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1999, and he was nicknamed "Jay Dubs" as a teenager. Jay played junior varsity soccer as a freshman, and he was named state volleyball player of the year as a senior. Williams played on the school's basketball team, and during his senior year, he was named New Jersey Player of the Year, "USA Today" first team All-American, "Parade" All-American, and First Team All-State Player. Jay competed in the McDonald's All-American Game and Slam Dunk Contest, and after scoring 20 points, he won the title of McDonald's All-American. During his time at St. Joseph High, Williams set school records for steals (407) and total points (1,977), and he averaged 19 points per game during his senior year. Jay maintained a GPA of 3.6 in high school, and in 1999, he received the Morgan Wootten Award for his achievements in both basketball and the classroom.
College Career
After graduating from high school, Williams played basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. As a freshman, "The Sporting News" named him National Freshman of the Year, "Basketball Times" selected him as a first team Freshman All-American, and he was ACC Rookie of the Year. In 2001, he led the team to the NCAA National Championship and was named NABC Player of the Year. Jay scored 841 points during his sophomore year, breaking a nearly 50-year-old Duke record, and he made 132 three-point field goals during the NCAA tournament, the organization's sixth-highest total in history. Williams led the ACC in scoring with an average of 21.6 points per game, and he earned the Wooden Award and Naismith Award in 2002. Jay graduated with a Sociology degree in 2002, and by the time he left Duke, he had scored 2,079 points. His #22 jersey was retired at Senior Day.
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Professional Career
In 2002, Williams was the second overall pick in the NBA draft, and he was selected by the Chicago Bulls. He was a starter during most of the games in the 2002–03 season, and his final NBA game took place on April 15, 2003. In that game, Jay scored 14 points, and the Bulls defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 115–106. On June 19, 2003, Williams was injured after he crashed his motorcycle into a streetlight in Chicago while not wearing a helmet. He wasn't licensed to ride a motorcycle in the state, and the act violated his contract with the Bulls. Jay suffered a fractured pelvis, and the accident severed a nerve in his leg and tore three ligaments in his knee. Due to the fact that Williams would require lengthy physical therapy in order to use his leg again, the Bulls decided to waive him. Since Jay violated his contract, the team didn't legally have to pay him his remaining salary, but they chose to give him $3 million to help him pay for his rehabilitation expenses. In his memoir, Williams revealed that he became addicted to painkillers and other drugs after his motorcycle accident.
In September 2006, the New Jersey Nets signed Jay to a non-guaranteed contract, but they released him the following month. He later signed with the NBA Development League team the Austin Toros, but he only played in three games before the team waived him on December 30, 2006. After being waived from the Toros, Williams announced that he wasn't planning to return to his basketball career. During his professional basketball career, Jay also played on the senior USA national basketball team, which came in sixth at the 2002 FIBA World Cup. After retiring from basketball, Williams began working for ESPN as an NBA analyst, and he was an analyst for the CBS College Sports Network's coverage of the 2008 NCAA men's basketball tournament. From 2007 to 2009, he worked as a recruiter for Ceruzzi Sports and Entertainment, and he later landed a spokesman gig for Visions Federal Credit Union in New York. He can be heard as an announcer in the 2018 video game "NBA Live 19, and he began hosting the podcast "The Limits with Jay Williams" on NPR in 2021.
Personal Life
Jay married Nikki Bonacorsi on May 3, 2018. The couple welcomed daughter Amelia Brooklyn-Rose in October 2018, and son Zane David in April 2021.
Awards and Achievements
In 2000, Williams was named to the ACC All-Freshman team and Third-team All-ACC, and he was the ACC tournament MVP that year. He was chosen for the First-team All-ACC and Consensus first-team All-American in 2001 and 2002, and he was an NCAA champion in 2001. For the 2001–02 college season, Jay received the Naismith College Player of the Year award, John R. Wooden Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy, NABC Player of the Year award, and "Sporting News" Men's College Basketball Player of the Year award. In 2003, he was selected for the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
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