Former Kentucky basketball player Amari Williams selected in 2025 NBA draft
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- Former UK basketball player Amari Williams was taken in second round of 2025 NBA draft.
- Williams played four college seasons at Drexel and one college season at Kentucky.
Amari Williams is off the board in the 2025 NBA draft.
Following a five-year college basketball career that included four seasons at mid-major Drexel and one season at Kentucky, Williams was selected in the second round with the No. 46 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic on Thursday night. He was reportedly traded to the Boston Celtics before the selection was made.
Williams, who is originally from England, is the second player from the 2024-25 Kentucky basketball team to be taken in the 2025 NBA draft, joining 3-point shooting wing Koby Brea, who was taken with the No. 41 overall pick and is going to the Phoenix Suns, also following a draft trade.
Both Brea and Williams represent the first NBA draft selections for Kentucky’s Mark Pope as a college head coach. Previously, Pope didn’t produce an NBA draft choice over his nine combined seasons as the head coach at Utah Valley and BYU.
During his lone season in Lexington, the 7-foot Williams averaged 10.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 blocks in 22.8 minutes per contest. The left-handed Williams played and started in all 36 of Kentucky’s game’s last season.
Williams made a career-best 56.1% of his shots from the field last season. That shooting percentage led all Kentucky players.
“I just learned I always have to be confident,” Williams said earlier this year when reflecting on his lone UK basketball season. “I feel like at the start of the year, I was kind of playing timid. Not even just playing, but anything I would do, I was kind of timid with it. I never really put my whole foot forward. But my coaching staff put a lot of confidence in me. My teammates put a lot of confidence in me. And even from the start, it was kind of up to me to go out there and believe in myself. That’s something that’s helped me a lot. And I would just say how much being a team matters, especially this year. I feel like we’ve all loved each other from the jump, and that’s something that we’ll always remember.”
Williams will also always occupy a space in UK basketball history. He recorded only the fourth triple-double in Wildcats program history with a stat line of 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in Kentucky’s February road loss at Ole Miss. This made Williams the first Kentucky player to record a triple-double since Isaiah Briscoe in December 2016.
His impact on the Kentucky program will still be felt in the seasons to come, especially with regard to the continued development of rising junior center Brandon Garrison.
Despite a strong fifth college basketball season, Williams wasn’t invited to the NBA Combine in May in Chicago. He did participate in the NBA G League Elite Camp, which took place just a few days before the draft combine in Chicago.
Williams was the first transfer portal player to commit to Pope’s Kentucky basketball team last offseason. Prior to his time at UK, Williams was a three-time conference defensive player of the year at Drexel. During his time with the Dragons, Williams played in 105 career games and averaged 10.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.6 assists per contest.
Williams is one of 22 all-time, international-born players to appear in a game for Kentucky. He’s one of only two England-born players in this group, along with Morakinyo Williams (2007-08).
This story was originally published June 26, 2025 at 9:37 PM.
