Elizabeth Williams

Personal: Elizabeth Williams is the daughter of Margaret and Dr. Alex Williams and was born in Colchester, Essex, England. She is one of three children in her family. Her brother, Mark, played basketball at Duke from 2020 to 2022 and was picked by the Charlotte Hornets with the No. 15 overall selection in the 2022 NBA Draft. She majored in psychology at Duke. During her scholastic career at Princess Anne High School, she was a two-time Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year. She also competed on the track and field team in high school. She was honored as the 2011 Morgan Wooten National Player of the Year after leading her team to the Virginia Class AAA title. She piloted her high school team to an impressive 120-6 record over four seasons.

Other Professional Experience: Elizabeth Williams is a ten-year WNBA veteran who has started 235 of 287 career games. She was selected by Connecticut with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 WNBA Draft. She is a two-time WNBA All-Defensive Team selection, earning First-Team notice with Atlanta in 2020 and All-Defensive Second Team plaudits with Chicago in 2023. She was honored as the 2016 Associated Press and WNBA Most Improved Player while playing for Atlanta and also played in the 2017 WNBA All-Star Game. She has averaged 8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game during her career. Elizabeth appeared in 21 games off the bench as a rookie with Connecticut and averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per game in her lone season with the Sun. She was acquired in a trade with Atlanta before the 2016 season.

Williams then earned a starting assignment in 186 of 187 games over six seasons with the Dream, where she averaged 9.4 points and 6.4 rebounds with Atlanta. She enjoyed the best season of her WNBA career in 2016 after contributing 11.9 points per game while starting all 34 contests. She also grabbed 8.1 rebounds per outing, including a career-high 16 caroms against Phoenix on September 11, 2016. She posted 21 double-digit scoring performances, including four games with 20 or more points. Elizabeth averaged 10.4 points per game during the 2017 campaign while starting all 34 contests. She scored in double figures 22 times, including a season-high 20 points against Chicago on June 23, 2017. She contributed 9.1 points per game while starting 32 of 33 contests in 2018. She also grabbed 5.8 rebounds per game while chipping in 1.8 blocks per outing. She closed the season with five double-digit scoring outputs in the final six games, including a season-best 22 points against Las Vegas on August 7, 2018. She started all 32 games while averaging 9.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per outing during the 2019 season. She collected 10 or more points in 14 contests, including a 20-point performance against Las Vegas on September 5, 2019. She posted a 10.1 scoring average in the 2020 season while starting 22 games and tallied a season-high 17 points against Dallas on July 26, 2020. Williams fashioned a 5.8 scoring average in her final season with Atlanta in 2021 while starting 32 games. She was signed by Washington ahead of the 2022 campaign and appeared in 30 games off the bench with the Mystics while averaging 5.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per appearance.

Williams signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Sky on February 3, 2023. She has started 49 games for the Sky over the last two seasons, averaging 9.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per outing. She received the starting nod in all 40 games during the 2023 campaign and authored 17 double-digit scoring outputs, including a season-high 23 points against Seattle on August 27, 2023. In that game, she made 10 of 15 field goal attempts while going 3-for-4 at the free-throw line. She appeared in nine games during the 2024 campaign and averaged 10.0 points per game. She signed a contract extension with Chicago on September 19, 2024. Williams earned 2021-22 EuroLeague Women’s Defensive Player of the Year honors while playing for Fenerbahce Spor Kulubu in Turkey.

International Experience: Elizabeth Williams was a three-time Gold medal winner for the United States. She guided Team USA to the Gold medal at the inaugural FIBA Americas U-16 Championship in 2009, where she averaged a team-high 5.2 rebounds and 13.4 points per contest. She earned Tournament Most Valuable Player distinction after guiding Team USA to a perfect 5-0 record. During the 2010 FIBA U-17 World Championship in France, she paced Team USA with 13.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while also shooting 61.8 percent from the field as the United States fashioned a perfect 8-0 mark en route to winning the Gold medal. She registered her third Gold medal at the 2011 U-19 World Championship in Chile, where she averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as Team USA finished with an 8-1 record.

At Duke: Elizabeth Williams was a four-year letter winner at Duke who appeared in 136 games for the Blue Devils from 2011-15. She ranks second in program history with 132 career starts and is one of three women’s basketball players in Duke history to have her jersey retired. She was a four-time Associated Press All-America honoree, including Second-Team notice as a senior, and became the first player in Duke history to receive AP All-America notice in each of her first three seasons. She also stands as the first player in Atlantic Coast Conference history to earn AP All-America honors during all four seasons. Additionally, she received three State Farm/Kodak All-America certificates. She was honored as the 2015 WBCA National Defensive Player of the Year and was selected as the 2012 National Freshman of the Year by ESPN, USBWA, and Basketball Times.

Williams was a three-time Wooden Award finalist and also garnered finalist recognition for the Naismith Award and Wade Trophy as a freshman. She was also named a finalist for the 2015 USBWA and Kodak/WBCA National Player of the Year awards. She was the first player in ACC history to be named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year four times and was one of five players in Duke history to be selected as ACC Rookie of the Year. She earned seven First-Team All-ACC commendations and was the second player in league history to be named First-Team All-ACC in four consecutive years. She was a three-time ACC All-Tournament Team selection and the first player in ACC history to register over 1,900 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 400 blocks. She set Duke and ACC records by blocking at least one shot in her first 91 career games and tied the ACC record by earning nine Rookie of the Week citations during the 2011-12 season.

Williams was honored as the 2015 ACC Kay Yow Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was a Third-Team CoSIDA Academic All-America® selection as a senior. She is the fourth-leading scorer in program history with 1,955 career points and ranks second on the Blue Devils’ career rebound (1,078) and blocked shot (426) charts. She also grabbed 494 offensive rebounds to rate second on Duke's career ledger. Williams is one of two players in program history with 100 or more blocked shots in a season three times and also holds program freshman single-game rebound and blocked shot standards. She needed just 69 games to reach 1,000 career points, the sixth-fastest total in program history. She posted 110 double-figure scoring games during her career, including 20 games with 20 or more points. She is third in Duke history with 29 career double-double efforts and is one of seven Duke players to record a triple-double, doing so against Wake Forest on January 6, 2012, when she scored 18 points with 16 rebounds and a school-record 12 blocked shots. She guided the Blue Devils to 55 ACC regular-season victories over four years, tied for fifth-most in program history, and led the Blue Devils in scoring three times during her career.

Williams averaged 14.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game as a senior and also paced the ACC with 3.0 blocks per game. She became the third player in Duke program history to post a ‘20/20’ game with 26 points and 20 rebounds against Oklahoma and tallied a career-high 33 points at No. 12 North Carolina. As a junior, she started in all 35 games and contributed 13.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks per outing. She also converted a career-best 52.6 percent of her field goal attempts. She notched seven double-doubles while posting 10 double-digit rebounding outputs. She earned a starting assignment in 32 of 36 games during her sophomore season and ranked eighth in the country with a 2.97 block-per-game average. She also compiled 15.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per fixture. She opened her college career by earning consensus National Freshman of the Year accolades and averaged 14.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per contest. She totaled 116 blocked shots as a freshman, which were more than 216 NCAA Division I teams during the 2011-12 campaign.