Mo Williams

Maurice Williams (born December 19, 1982) is the head men's basketball coach at Jackson State University and a former professional basketball player who played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

After a successful high school career at Murrah High School in Jackson, Mississippi, Williams attended college at the University of Alabama, where he led his team as a freshman to a 27–8 record, and also shared an SEC regular-season championship.

In 2002 as a freshman, he started every game at point guard.

Williams averaged 10.4 points and 4.5 assists per game.

His play helped lead the Crimson Tide to a 27–8 record, including a 17–0 home record, and the SEC regular-season championship.

Williams and the Crimson Tide entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 2 seed, where they lost to Kent State 71–58 in the second round.

After two seasons at Alabama, Williams entered the 2003 NBA draft where he was selected with the 47th overall pick by the Utah Jazz.

Throughout his career, he has also played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Charlotte Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Williams led the team in scoring and assists, averaging 16.4 points and 3.8 assists per game for the 2003 season, which ended in a first-round loss in the NCAA tournament to Indiana.

He subsequently earned third-team All-SEC.

After two seasons, Williams decided to forgo his final two years at Alabama and declare for the 2003 NBA draft.

Williams was selected by the Utah Jazz in the second round, 47th overall of the 2003 NBA draft.

He averaged 5 points and 1.3 assists for the Jazz in his rookie season.

On August 8, 2004, the Milwaukee Bucks signed Williams, who was a restricted free agent, to an offer sheet.

On August 21, the Jazz decided to not match the Bucks' offer.

Filling in for Bucks' injured starting point guard T. J. Ford, Williams averaged 10.2 points and 6.1 assists during the 2004–05 season.

In his new role coming off the bench for the up-and-coming Bucks team, he showed a knack for clutch plays, making several game-winning shots in the 2005–06 season.

In the 2006 off-season, the Bucks traded Ford to the Toronto Raptors for power forward Charlie Villanueva.

This opened up a position in the starting lineup for Williams.

In the first 19 games of the 2006–07 season, Williams averaged 15.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists in nearly 35 minutes per game, all career highs.

In a December 20, 2006, Bucks game vs. the Miami Heat, Williams recorded his first career triple-double with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

On January 27, 2007, Williams scored 30 points, including making a game-winning shot, and recorded 10 assists during a 107–105 win over the New York Knicks.

Williams was a free agent in summer 2007, but decided to stay with the Bucks by signing a six-year, $52 million deal.

On August 13, 2008, Williams was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team, six-player deal involving the Cavaliers, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Oklahoma City Thunder that also sent Cleveland's Joe Smith and Milwaukee's Desmond Mason to Oklahoma City and sent Cleveland's Damon Jones and Oklahoma City's Luke Ridnour and Adrian Griffin to Milwaukee.

Upon his arrival, he changed his jersey number to #2 because his traditional #25 was already retired by former Cavalier Mark Price.

During the 2008–09 season, Williams helped the Cavaliers reach a league-leading 66–16 record.

The team went 39–2 at the Quicken Loans Arena.

After the departure of LeBron James, Williams became a very vocal member of the Cavaliers.

Amidst trade rumors, Mo hinted on his Twitter account that he didn't wish to be traded.

He also criticized the events surrounding LeBron's flight from Cleveland and even shot back at insults made to the Cavaliers by Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade.

In 2009, Williams was selected as an NBA All-Star.

On February 10, 2009, Williams was chosen to replace forward Chris Bosh in the 2009 NBA All-Star Game.

He was the second alternate choice, after Ray Allen, who replaced an injured Jameer Nelson.

On February 11, Williams scored a then-career-high 44 points to go along with 7 assists against the Phoenix Suns.

In the 2016, he won his only NBA championship with the Cavaliers.

He retired as a player in 2017.

In May 2018, Williams became an assistant coach for the Cal State Northridge Matadors men's basketball team.

In May 2020, he became the head coach for the Alabama State Hornets basketball team, but stayed for just two seasons before resigning in March 2022.

A few days later he was named head coach at Jackson State University in his home town, replacing Wayne Brent.

Williams attended college at the University of Alabama under Mark Gottfried.