Corliss Williamson
Corliss Williamson | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 4, 1973 United States |
| Occupation(s) | Basketball player, basketball coach |
| Years active | 1995–2007 (player), 2007–present (coach) |
| Known for | NBA player, NBA Sixth Man of the Year (2002), NBA Champion (2004) |
Corliss Mondari Williamson (born December 4, 1973) is an American former NBA athlete and current basketball coach, serving as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Over the course of 12 seasons, he competed for four different NBA franchises and also held an assistant coaching position with the Phoenix Suns. Nicknamed "Big Nasty" by his AAU coach at age 13, Williamson excelled as a power forward during his collegiate career at Arkansas, but shifted to playing small forward in the NBA due to his physical stature.
High school
Williamson showcased his basketball talents at Russellville High School, where he earned all-conference and all-state honors three times and was named the 1992 Gatorade National Player of the Year. Prior to his senior season, he scored 37 points in an AAU championship game against future teammate Chris Webber. During his final year of high school, Williamson averaged 28 points and nine rebounds per contest,[1] leading Russellville to victory in the King Cotton Classic championship. In the tournament final, he blocked a last-second shot by Jason Kidd, earning tournament MVP honors before gifting his medal to teammate Marcus Thompson.[2] Williamson was selected to participate in the 1992 McDonald's All-American Game, where he contributed 14 points and secured ten rebounds.[3][4] His high school retired his #34 jersey in honor of his achievements.
College
From 1992 through 1995, Williamson represented the University of Arkansas on their basketball team. During the 1992–93 season, he guided Arkansas to a 22–9 record and advancement to the Sweet 16, averaging 14.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.[5] That season, he was recognized on the SEC All-Freshman team.
In the subsequent 1993–94 season, Williamson earned the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player award while leading Arkansas to a remarkable 31–3 record and securing its sole national championship under coach Nolan Richardson by defeating Duke in the title game. The following year saw Arkansas return to the championship match but fall short against UCLA, finishing with a 32–7 record.
Williamson received first-team All-SEC honors three consecutive years (1993–95), claimed SEC Player of the Year twice (1994 and 1995), and was named a second-team All-American on two occasions. He played a pivotal role in Arkansas capturing three SEC West Division titles along with the SEC regular-season crown in 1994. With a career total of 1,728 points, he stands eighth on Arkansas’s all-time scoring list. Inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, Williamson’s #34 jersey is one of only two retired by the university, recognizing him among its five greatest players.[6]
NBA career
Williamson declared for the NBA draft following his junior collegiate season and was picked 13th overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 1995 NBA draft. His most productive campaign came during the 1997–98 season, where he posted an average of 17.7 points across 79 games, ultimately finishing as the runner-up for the NBA Most Improved Player Award. Prior to the 2000–01 NBA season, Sacramento sent him to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Doug Christie. After participating in 42 games with Toronto, he was involved in a multi-player trade that sent him to the Detroit Pistons. In the 2001–02 NBA season, Williamson received the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award and played a vital role on Detroit’s squad that secured the 2003–04 NBA Championship. Renowned for his adaptability in the post, he was a valuable offensive weapon. On August 8, 2004, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in return for Derrick Coleman and Amal McCaskill, only to be traded back to Sacramento on February 22, 2005, as part of a deal involving Chris Webber.
Williamson stands out for having won titles at three distinct tiers: AAU, NCAA with Arkansas, and NBA with Detroit.
Coaching career
In September 2007, Williamson retired from playing and took up an assistant coaching role at Arkansas Baptist College, later advancing to head coach during his final season there. On March 12, 2010, he accepted the position of men's head basketball coach at the University of Central Arkansas, vowing to implement an energetic approach reminiscent of Nolan Richardson’s style. Although his squads showed steady progress, they were unable to secure a winning season.
Williamson joined the Sacramento Kings coaching staff as an assistant on August 2, 2013. He then transitioned to an assistant coaching position with the Orlando Magic on June 29, 2016; following the dismissal of head coach Frank Vogel in 2018, Williamson was also released from his duties.
On June 27, 2018, Williamson accepted an assistant coach role with the Phoenix Suns, reuniting with former teammate Igor Kokoškov from their championship run in Detroit. After Kokoškov was relieved of his duties after one season, Williamson was similarly let go.
Most recently, on June 30, 2023, Williamson was brought on as an assistant coach by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Two years later, on August 18, 2025, he joined the coaching staff of the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant.
Regular season
|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 53 || 3 || 11.5 || .466 || .000 || .560 || 2.2 || .4 || .2 || .2 || 5.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 79 || 31 || 25.1 || .498 || .000 || .560 || 4.1 || 1.6 || .8 || .6 || 11.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 79 || 75 || 35.7 || .495 || .000 || .630 || 5.6 || 2.9 || 1.0 || .6 || 17.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | style="background:#cfecec;"|50*|| style="background:#cfecec;"|50*||27.5||.485||.200||.638||4.1||1.3||.6||.2||13.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 76 || 76 || 22.5 || .500 || – || .769 || 3.8 || 1.1 || .5 || .3 || 10.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Toronto | 42 || 31 || 21.2 || .471 || .000 || .646 || 3.6 || .8 || .4 || .3 || 9.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Detroit | 27 || 9 || 29.5 || .534 || – || .626 || 6.2 || 1.0 || 1.3|| .3||15.2 |-
| style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Detroit |78||7||21.9||.510||.200||.805||4.1||1.2||.6||.3||13.6 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Detroit | 82||1||25.1||.453||.182||.790||4.4||1.3||.5||.3||12.0 |- | style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;" | † | style="text-align:left;" | Detroit |79||0||19.9||.505||–||.731||3.2||.7||.4||.3||9.5 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Philadelphia |48||5||22.0||.465||.000||.788||3.7||.9||.5||.3||10.8 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Sacramento |24||4||19.6||.473||–|| .823||3.4||1.5||.5||.1||9.3 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Sacramento |37||0||9.8||.417||| 1.000||| .776|||1.8||| .4||| .2||| .1|||3..4
Playoff Performance
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 1996 | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 1 || 0 || 2.0 || .000 || || 1.000 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || 1.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1999 | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 5 || 5 || 26.0 || .575 || || .700 || 3.2 || 1.2 || .4 || .2 || 10.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2000 | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 5 || 5 || 17.4 || .688 || || .917 || 3.0 || .2 || .2 || .0 || 6.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2002 | style="text-align:left;"| Detroit | 10 || 0 || 27.0 || .464 || .000 || .763 || 5.3 || 1.0 || .9 || .2 || 13.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2003 | style="text-align:left;"| Detroit | 15 || 0 || 15.5 || .411 || || .741 || 2.2 || 1.0 || .3 || .2 || 7.8 |- | style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"|2004† | style="text-align:left;"| Detroit | 22 || 0 || 14.9 || .364 || .000 || .809 || 2.2 || .7 || .3 || .1 || 5.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2005 | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 5 || 0 || 8.0 || .375 || .000 || .778 || 1.2 || .6 || .2 || .4|| 5.2 |- | style="text-align:left;" | 2006
| style="text-align:left;" | Sacramento | 3||0||3.8||.400||||1.000||.3||.0||.0||.0||2.3
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Total Career | 66||10||16.7||.436||.000||.781||2.6||.8||.3||.2||7.5 |-
- ↑ "Corliss Mondari Williamson (1973–)." Archived June 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbignasty - ↑ "McDonald's All-American: Boys Alumni." Archived May 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ↑ "McDonalds High School Basketball All-American Teams." Archived August 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine www.basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbasketball reference - ↑ "Corliss Williamson – Class of 2009." Archived November 13, 2017, at the Wayback Machine www.arkansassportshalloffame.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017.