Jeenathan “Nate” Williams is facing a crucial week-and-a-half in the desert.
For the Houston Rockets forward, Las Vegas Summer League is serving as a bit of an audition. It’s his fourth Summer League, for starters, and his $2.27 million contract becomes guaranteed money on the opening night of the NBA season.
This is the best chance for Williams to show he deserves that money, not that he’s too focused on that, of course.
“I really don’t worry about all that stuff,” Williams told the Houston Chronicle. “I just work hard and come to play and have fun. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s basketball. You just gotta have fun.”
Williams has had fun on the basketball court for a long time.
He’s one of a handful of Rochester, N.Y.-raised players currently in the NBA. He was a top player in upstate New York for University Prep, then went to Prolific Prep in California to prepare for the next level.
He then became the highest-ranked recruit in University of Buffalo history.
After starring for the UB Bulls, too, Williams has grinded his way into professional hoops relevance.
Early on, he hardly even played in Summer League. Now, he’s one of the Rockets’ summer leaders.
“My first few years I really didn’t play in summer league, so I’m just excited to get out there, get up and down and win some games, honestly,” Williams told the Chronicle. “It’s always the same. But I mean, obviously I know I’m getting way more opportunity. So I mean, obviously that’s the most exciting.”
The Rockets made the obviously notable addition of Kevin Durant this summer. They won’t be an easy team to make or to break into.
But Houston wouldn’t entrust Williams with a summer leadership role if they didn’t think he had a chance of sticking around.
So for the next week-plus, Rockets fans should keep an eye on Williams. His future depends quite a bit on what happens in Vegas.
