OCTOBER 11: Williams’ signing is now official, the Jazz confirmed in a press release. To make room on the roster, Utah has waived guard Darryl Morsell, who signed with the team on Sunday.
JUNE 27: The Jazz and free agent swingman Jeenathan Williams have agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal, sources tell Jon Chepkevich of Rookie Scale (Twitter link).
Williams, who declared for the draft this spring following his fourth college season, earned All-MAC First Team honors in 2022 after making the Second Team in 2021.
The undrafted rookie out of Buffalo averaged 18.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game in 54 contests (31.8 MPG) over his last two seasons. He also shot an impressive 42.5% on three-pointers during that time.
As Chepkevich notes, Williams stands at 6’6″ but has a seven-foot wingspan.
Exhibit 10 deals are non-guaranteed pacts that can be converted into two-way contracts before the regular season begins. They also allow a player to earn a bonus of up to $50K if he’s waived before the season and joins his team’s G League affiliate.
What a name
The announcers say it like “je-nathan”. Seems it’s a combination of Jonathan and Nathan. When you hear it pronounced I actually like it. =)
Jeenathan Williams reminds me of longer, but slower, version of Donovan Mitchell. Maybe a little bit like Doncic in his deliberate moves. If he bulks up a bit more then he could be a real force against bigger guys, if needed.
He’s very aggressive at attacking the rim, can shoot it from the perimeter as well. Seems athletic and has good body control. Has a nice step-back jumper. I can definitely see him getting buckets in the NBA.
The only danger with being aggressive is stepping on players’ feet and twisting an ankle. He seems to have deliberate moves so I’m assuming he’s planning out what he does beforehand? His instinctive reactions along the way shows it’s a bit of planning and reaction. That’s a good combo. Like Bruce Lee preached, “be like water, my friend.” =)
I like how he keeps his spacing away from the defender. That’ll help him stay away from injury. Look at longtime veterans in the league these days. They all have a fadeaway that they turn to for creating space and avoiding injuries.
Hard to say he needs more speed because of the way he creates shots for himself. Like I mentioned, probably just needs to bulk up so he can bully guys in the post when double-teamed, for example. Should be fun to see how the Jazz decide to play him in Summer League. He’s a good rebounder so he could play 2-4 really.
Interesting. I’m assuming these guys are being converted to SLC Star contracts. They do this every year. Pretty sure every team does this. Exhibit 10’s can also be converted to 2-ways and regular contracts.
Reporter Andy Larsen confirmed this:
“Jazz sign Jeenathan Williams, waive Darryl Morsell.
(Spoiler alert: they’ll also waive Jeenathan Williams later. Both guys will go to the Stars.)”
I always remember this dude b/c he looks exactly like Jimmy Butler lol