Mark Williams discusses impact of older sister's WNBA career

Former Duke Blue Devils center Mark Williams is one of the rare athletes to already have a sibling playing professional basketball. His sister, Washington Mystics center Elizabeth Williams, has been in the WNBA since 2015. She was drafted fourth overall in the 2015 WNBA Draft by the Connecticut Sun. Her brother, Mark Williams, joined her in the pro basketball ranks recently, when he was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the No. 15 overall selection in the 2022 NBA Draft. His sister was by his side on draft night in Brooklyn, and Mark Williams recently spoke about how helpful she was for him throughout the whole pre-draft process.

“Yeah, you know, she’s everything to me. She’s a great resource for me. Throughout the whole pre-draft process, [she was] someone I could always ask questions. [She] always gave me some advice. [She] always told me, ‘Have fun with it. It’s still basketball at the end of the day. Continue to work hard.’ Stuff like that. So, to have somebody that I can that I can reach out to anytime about anything is pretty, pretty nice,” Williams said recently in his introductory press conference.

The former Duke center was the 2022 ACC Defensive Player of the Year

Williams, the 2022 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, was the anchor of the Blue Devils defense as they made a run to the Final Four. He averaged 11.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game for Duke, which finished 32-7 overall and 16-4 in ACC play in Coach K’s final season as head coach.

Out of high school, Williams was a four-star recruit and the No. 31 player in the nation from the class of 2020, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

What NBA Draft analysts are saying about Mark Williams

ESPN’s Mike Schmitz offered his assessment of Williams’ skill set, especially on defense. In fact, he’ll be one of the longest players in the NBA — and Schmitz said there’s reason to believe he’ll have plenty of upside in the association.

“Williams’ sheer reach immediately makes him a game-changer as both a lob-catcher and rim-protector, elements we saw all season in the ACC as he finished a remarkable 76% of his shots at the rim in the half court,” Schmitz wrote. “Williams also ranks No. 3 among [ESPN’s] top 100 in block percentage and fourth in offensive rebound percentage, regularly creating extra possessions with tap-outs thanks to his timing and length.

On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.