After playing just a single season in Tallahassee for the Florida State basketball team, Patrick Williams entered the NBA Draft, and despite not starting a single game for the Seminoles, Williams was made the 4th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. Had the rest of the lottery not been made up a parade of players who haven't lived up to their pre-draft hype — we're talking guys like James Wiseman, Isaac Okoro, Killian Hayes, Jaylen Smith, and Kira Lewis Jr., among others — perhaps more would've been made of Chicago's historic whiff on the Williams pick. Instead, now as Patrick Williams' fourth-season with Chicago nears its end, we're just left wondering, “What next?”
Even Patrick Williams himself doesn't have the answer to that question.
“Williams said he doesn’t know how his restricted free agency will play out but he’d welcome a return to the Bulls,” according to KC Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
Whether or not the Bulls match any offers for Williams is still a mystery. I'm not even sure what kind of market there would be for a player who, through four years of his career, A) Has been injury prone, and B) Failed to show any kind of progress or growth.
In his one year at Florida State, Williams was named ACC Sixth Man of the Year. He averaged 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for a Seminoles squad that was likely on their way to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament had it not been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Williams was raw, and projected to develop at a fast pace once he joined the NBA. Comparisons ranged anywhere between Marvin Williams, and for the optimists, Kawhi Leonard.
In 213 career games with the Bulls, Williams is averaging 9.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. His numbers, in 22 minutes per game at Florida State, are practically the same as his numbers in 28 minutes per game in the NBA.
With all of this said, Patrick Williams is still only 22 years old, and we've seen late-developing players come into their own in the past. He's a 41 percent three-point shooter, and that's an encouraging number even on low volume. He'll get another opportunity to carve out a spot in the rotation, it just may not be in Chicago.
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