12/30/2025
HONOURING OUR OWN: After three seasons grinding it out at Maryland, Buck Williams made the leap. The NBA was calling, and in 1981, the New Jersey Nets answered loudly, selecting him third overall in the draft, just behind his Olympic teammates Mark Aguirre and Isiah Thomas. Expectations were heavy, but Williams carried them with quiet force. From the opening tip of his rookie season, he looked like he belonged. He averaged 15.5 points, dominated the glass with 12.3 rebounds per game, and transformed a struggling Nets team almost overnight. New Jersey won 20 more games than the year before, finishing 44–38, and Williams walked away with the 1982 Rookie of the Year award. It wasn’t hype. It was an impact.
Over the next eight seasons, Williams became the backbone of the Nets. Night after night, he did the unglamorous work—boxing out, battling in the paint, cleaning up misses. He turned rebounding into an identity. In six of those seasons, he ranked among the league’s top three rebounders, never once dipping below 12 rebounds per game. The Nets finally broke through in 1983–84, reaching the second round of the playoffs for the first time since the ABA–NBA merger in 1976, before falling to the Milwaukee Bucks. What followed was frustration. The Nets couldn’t get past the first round again until 2002, long after Williams had moved on, when Jason Kidd led them to the Finals in a losing effort. Still, during that stretch, Williams had already cemented his place as one of the premier power forwards in the league.
Then came the trade that changed everything. On June 24, 1989, New Jersey sent Williams to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Sam Bowie and a draft pick. In Portland, he didn’t need to be the centerpiece anymore. Instead, he became the steady force alongside Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter, fitting seamlessly into a team ready to contend. The contrast was immediate. Before Williams arrived, the Blazers had been bounced in the first round four straight seasons. With him, they surged. His first three years in Portland produced three Western Conference Finals appearances and two trips to the NBA Finals. In 1990, they ran into the bruising Detroit Pistons and fell in five games. In 1992, it was Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, ending the run in six. Williams started regularly in six of his seven seasons with the Blazers, anchoring the frontcourt with the same consistency he’d always shown. By the time his Portland chapter closed, he ranked fifth in franchise history in both field goal percentage at 55.0 percent and total rebounds with 4,861, a testament to longevity and efficiency.
As his career wound down, Williams returned to familiar territory. After the 1995–96 season, he signed with the New York Knicks, back in the Atlantic Division, this time in a reduced role behind Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley. The minutes were fewer, the body more worn. During the 1997–98 season, knee surgery sidelined him for 41 games, the first time in his career he missed more than 12 in a season. It was a reminder that even the most durable careers eventually meet their limits.
On January 27, 1999, Buck Williams officially stepped away. He retired after 17 NBA seasons with career averages of 12.8 points, 10 rebounds per game, and a remarkable 54.9 percent shooting from the field. More than 16,000 points. More than 13,000 rebounds. Only six players in league history had reached both milestones before him. Williams never chased the spotlight, but his career left a clear imprint—built on toughness, consistency, and the kind of work that wins games long after the box score fades.
Borrowed From Sophia Russo Conti
