On Wednesday, the five-week Athletes Unlimited Hoops season tips off. A roster of 44 players will compete in three games a week; split amongst four teams drafted by team captains. Throughout the list are WNBA athletes like Washington Mystics’ Natasha Cloud, Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell and 2021 WNBA Champion Lexie Brown, from the Chicago Sky. There’s a lot to be excited about with a whole heap of storylines. Players outside of the WNBA get a chance to build name notoriety, and maybe earn themselves a spot on a WNBA roster. There’s one storyline sticks out though. Courtney Williams’ audition to get back into the WNBA.
There’s one thing to make clear – there’s nothing on the court that Williams needs to prove. The 2021 WNBA All-Star had a career season with the Atlanta Dream. In 32 games, Williams averaged career highs in minutes (34.4), defensive rebounds (5.4), assists (4) and points (16.5). Williams 218 total rebounds was good for 10th in the league. A 5-foot-8 guard outrebounded everyone on her team and anyone from the Los Angeles Sparks, New York Liberty or title winning Sky.
Williams’ AU audition is off the court. In six WNBA seasons, and three times in the last three and a half years, Williams has been involved in news making off court moments. In June of 2018, Williams and then Connecticut Sun teammate Alex Bentley had an altercation that turned into the Sun trading Bentley.
Fast forward to last season. On July 4, there were almost fireworks inside the Dream locker room. As reported by Spencer Nusbaum, after Williams approached teammate Chennedy Carter, who was visibly aggravated on the bench while teammates celebrated, Carter approached her looking for an altercation. Williams didn’t take the bait and instead walked away from the situation. That turned into a season-ending suspension for Carter.
Just 10 days later, Williams scored 15 in the WNBA All-Star team’s victory against Team USA.
Not until after the 2021 season did the most recent moment come to light. In May, Williams, and Dream teammate Crystal Bradford fought a group of people in Atlanta. After the video surfaced, Atlanta announced that Williams and Bradford wouldn’t return. The WNBA responded by suspending Williams for a game, and two for Bradford.
While there are plenty of free agents in the WNBA right now, since signings don’t start until February 1, Williams is one where teams may exercise patience. That could change with AU.
Another interesting selling point to the AU season is the absence of coaches. Each week, team rosters change and they compete together. An added layer to the competition is that while there are formed teams, it’s also an individual competition. So, Williams working with any of 43 different people means there are 43 different personalities. As team rosters change, Williams and her teammates could go from heated competitors to teammates. It makes sense that WNBA general managers will be watching not only the games, but how players perform off the court.
On the court, Williams is a vocal, supportive, teammate. Look no further than that WNBA All-Star game when Williams morphed from player to leading the team in support from the bench. Williams shouted compliments to her teammates and motivated them in their 93-85 victory.
In Friday’s first scrimmage, Williams audition included scoring 14 points on 7-for-25 shooting. While there’s still dust to blow off from the offseason, Williams also contributed six assists. Those six assists were the highest in the game for either team.
With Williams skill with a basketball, there’s no reason to think she can’t compete to win the inaugural AU MVP, on the court. WNBA leaders also want to see the same MVP behavior off of it.
For more from Athletes Unlimited, follow Beyond Women’s Sports. Captains choose teams tomorrow, at 3:00 p.m. Games begin Wednesday evening. Thomas is on Twitter too, follow him @1ThomasCostello.
