The Miami Heat have reportedly added guard Alondes Williams to their summer roster after he spent the 2022-23 season with the Brooklyn Nets’ G League team, the Long Island Nets.
Williams, who was the 2021-22 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, went undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft.
The young guard began his collegiate career at the University of Oklahoma, but he really took off in his third collegiate season after transferring to Wake Forest University.
In 35 games for the Demon Deacons in the 2021-22 season, Williams averaged 18.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game while shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 28.2 percent from beyond the arc.
A dynamic offensive player, Williams will have a chance to impress the Heat’s coaching staff and front office to see if he can earn his way onto the roster in the 2023-24 season.
The Heat have turned several undrafted free agents into key rotation pieces in recent seasons, including Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Max Strus, Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith.
Williams spent most of the 2022-23 season with Long Island, appearing in 24 regular season games. He averaged 13.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 51.3 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3.
It’s certainly a small sample size at the G League level, but Williams showed in college that he can compete with some very talented players.
Williams won ACC Player of the Year over Paolo Banchero, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Banchero was at Duke University during Williams’ impressive 2021-22 season.
There’s no guarantee that Williams ends up making an impact for Miami, but it’s interesting to see the franchise give him a shot.
The Heat have relied heavily on undrafted players in the Jimmy Butler era, and they’ve made two NBA Finals and three Eastern Conference Finals appearances in the process. Miami just made the Finals as a No. 8 seed in the 2022-23 season.
If Williams can have a strong showing in the summer for the Heat, there’s a chance he gets invited to training camp with the team for a chance to compete for a roster spot.