Willie Green
William Julius Green | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 28, 1981 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Professional basketball coach, former NBA player |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Known for | Head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans; NBA player for Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, Orlando Magic |
William Julius Green (born July 28, 1981) is an American professional basketball coach and former NBA player, most recently serving as head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Throughout his playing career, he competed for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Orlando Magic. Although drafted 41st overall in the second round of the 2003 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, Green was immediately traded on draft night to the 76ers in exchange for Paccelis Morlende and cash.
Philadelphia 76ers (2003–2010)
Green, a 1999 alumnus of Cooley High School and a prominent player at University of Detroit Mercy, was selected by Seattle but promptly dealt to Philadelphia. An injury delayed his contract extension in 2005, but he re-signed with the Sixers in March 2006 and returned to action shortly thereafter.
In the final game of the 2006–07 season against the Toronto Raptors, Green recorded a personal best of 37 points. During the 2007–08 campaign, he earned the starting shooting guard position over Rodney Carney, achieving career highs in several categories: appearing in 74 games—all as a starter—averaging 26.6 minutes per contest, shooting .436 from the field, along with averages of 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 12.4 points per game.
New Orleans Hornets (2010–2011)
On September 23, 2010, Green was traded to New Orleans alongside forward Jason Smith in exchange for forward Darius Songaila and rookie forward Craig Brackins.
Atlanta Hawks (2011–2012)
Green signed with the Atlanta Hawks on December 22, 2011.
Los Angeles Clippers (2012–2014)
On July 30, 2012, Green was involved in a sign-and-trade deal sending him to the Los Angeles Clippers for the rights to Sofoklis Schortsanitis. The Clippers waived him on June 29, 2014.
Orlando Magic (2014–2015)
The day following his release from Los Angeles, June 30, 2014, Green was claimed off waivers by the Orlando Magic.
Assistant coach (2016–2021)
Green began his coaching career on August 9, 2016, joining the Golden State Warriors as an assistant coach. During his tenure, he was part of back-to-back NBA championship-winning staffs in 2017 and 2018.
He continued his assistant coaching journey when hired by the Phoenix Suns on June 26, 2019.
New Orleans Pelicans (2021–2025)
On July 22, 2021, Green was appointed head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. Despite a difficult start with a 1–12 record, he guided the team to a final record of 36–46 and secured a spot in the play-in tournament. The Pelicans advanced beyond both the Spurs and Clippers to reach their first postseason appearance since the 2017–18 season but were eliminated in six games by the Suns in the First Round.
The following season began promisingly for New Orleans; they were tied for first place in the Western Conference early in 2023 with a 23–12 record. Nevertheless, injuries to pivotal players such as Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram contributed to a downturn that saw them finish ninth in the West and qualify once more for the play-in tournament. Their campaign ended after a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Green achieved his inaugural winning record as a head coach with a final tally of 42–40.
Following a poor start of 2–10 in the 2025–26 New Orleans Pelicans season, which left New Orleans at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, Green was dismissed from his head coaching role on November 15, 2025.
Awards
- Midwestern Collegiate Conference All-Newcomer Team: 2000
- Second Team All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference: 2001
- Horizon League Leading Scorer: 2003
- Horizon League All-Tournament Team: 2003
- First Team All-Horizon League: 2003
- Horizon League Player of the Year: 2003
- Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America: 2003
- Portsmouth Invitational All-Tournament Team: 2003
Regular season
|- | align="left" | | align="left" | Philadelphia | 53 || 0 || 14.5 || .401 || .311 || .728 || 1.2 || 1.0 || .5 || .1 || 6.9 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Philadelphia | 57 || 21 || 18.7 || .366 || .286 || .776 || 2.3 || 1.8 || .6 || .1 || 7.7 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Philadelphia | 10 || 2 || 15.3 || .424 || .526 || .800 || 1.5 || .5 || .2 || .0 || 7.0 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Philadelphia | 74 || 36 || 24.9 || .411 || .325 || .667 || 2.1 || 1.5 || .8 || .1 || 11.3 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Philadelphia | 74 || 74 || 26.6 || .436 || .285 || .757 || 2.5 || 2.0 || .7 || .3 || 12.4 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Philadelphia | 81 || 60 || 22.6 || .435 || .317 || .729 || 1.6 || 2.0 || .7 || .2 || 8.5 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Philadelphia | 73 || 18 || 21.3 || .457 || .346 || .833 || 1.8 || 2.1|| .4|| .2||8.7 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | New Orleans |77||13||21.7||.443||.348||.780||2.1||1.0||.5||.2||8.7 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Atlanta |53||2||17.4|| .471|| .442|| .857||1.5|| .8|| .4|| .1||7.6 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | L.A. Clippers |72||60||16.5||.461||.428||.719||1.3||.8||.4||.2||6.3 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | L.A. Clippers |55||9||15.8||.376||.339||.824||1.4||.9||.4||.2||5.0 |- | align="left" | | align="left" | Orlando |52||2||18.3||.386||.347||.824||1.5||1.3||.5||.1||5.9 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career |731||297||20.2||.425||.346||.765||1.8||1.4||.5||.1||8.3
Playoffs
|- | align="left" | 2005 | align="left" | Philadelphia |5||0||12.6|| .444||||222|||900|||1,8|||,6|||,2|||,0|||5,4 |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
Head coaching record
|- | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | style="text-align:left;"| | 82 || 36 || 46 || || style="text-align:center;"|3rd place, Southwest Division || 6 || 2 || 4 || | style="text-align:center;"|Eliminated in first round |- | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | style="text-align:left;"| | 82 || 42 || 40 || || style="text-align:center;"|2nd place, Southwest Division || — || — || — || — | style="text-align:center;"|Did not qualify for playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | style="text-align:left;"| | 82 || 49 || 33 || || style="text-align:center;"|2nd place, Southwest Division || 4 || 0 || 4 || | style="text-align:center;"|Exited in first round |- |- | style="text-align:left;" |2024–25 New Orleans Pelicans season |- | style="text-align:left;" | |- | 82 || 21 || 61 || |- | style="text-align:center;" |5th place, Southwest Division |- | — |- | — |- | — |- | style="text-align:center;" |Failed to reach playoffs |- |- | style="text-align:left;" |2025–26 New Orleans Pelicans season |- | style="text-align:left;" | |- | 12 || 2 || 10 || |- | style="text-align:center;" |(dismissed) |- | — |- | — |- | — |- | style="text-align:center;" |— |- |- class="sortbottom" |- colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Overall Career |- | 340 || 150 || 190 || |- | |- | 10 || 2 || -8 || - |-
See also
- Disappearance of Toni Sharpless, a missing person case from 2009; Green was officially cleared of any involvement
External links
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1981 births
- Living people
- American men's basketball coaches
- American men's basketball players
- Atlanta Hawks players
- Basketball coaches from Michigan
- Basketball players from Detroit
- Cooley High School alumni
- Detroit Mercy Titans men's basketball players
- Golden State Warriors assistant coaches
- Los Angeles Clippers players
- New Orleans Hornets players
- New Orleans Pelicans head coaches
- Orlando Magic players
- Philadelphia 76ers players
- Phoenix Suns assistant coaches
- Seattle SuperSonics draft picks
- Shooting guards
- 21st-century African-American sportsmen
- 20th-century African-American sportsmen
- 20th-century American sportsmen
- 21st-century American sportsmen