After two seasons away, Courtney Williams back home with WNBA’s Connecticut Sun: ‘My people, man’

UNCASVILLE — Jonquel Jones knew the Connecticut Sun was missing something.

The 2021 WNBA MVP saw that her team lacked power and energy in the backcourt. Connecticut needed a sharp, skilled presence to help feed her the ball and create plays in clutch moments.

Jones, DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas all knew who their team needed. And shortly after the 2021 season ended in October, Sun head coach Curt Miller also knew.

In February, it was official: Courtney Williams would return to the Sun.

“I knew they were interested, not even trying to sound all cocky, but I feel like I’m what this team was missing,” Williams said after Connecticut’s training camp practice on Monday. “I felt like just coming back in, it felt natural. Curt gave me a phone call, JJ, DB, AT, they were like, ‘You ready to come back home?’ and I was like, ‘Say less. I’m coming.’ ”

Connecticut signed Williams during the offseason to lead its backcourt and push the franchise one step closer in its pursuit of winning title No. 1 after falling in the playoff semifinals the past two seasons. To Miller and his players, Williams — who played for the Sun from 2016 to 2020 — was clearly the player they needed because of her familiarity with Connecticut’s system, players, and coaches.

The Sun also missed her contagious energy and unique skill set.

“Obviously really enjoyed the first four years with Courtney, (she) was an integral part of our growth and building what we think is very special now,” Miller said Tuesday. “On top of it, (she’s) just an elite human. She’s just a fantastic person, energy is contagious.

“She’s one of the few players that can just go create her own basket and we’ve missed that the last two years without her. … She’s a dynamic player, she’s the package. I really believe in her as a person and with the basketball, we just know what we’re gonna get.”

Williams’ history with the Sun began in June 2016.

After being drafted earlier that spring as the eighth overall pick by Phoenix, she was traded to Connecticut after six appearances with the Mercury. Williams left South Florida as the program’s No. 2 all-time scorer with 2,304 career points and was No. 3 on its all-time career rebounds list with 931, yet she totaled just three points and seven rebounds with the Mercury in 25 total minutes.

She joined a rookie class in Connecticut that also featured Jones, Rachel Banham and UConn’s Morgan Tuck. Williams averaged 6.2 points, 1.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game her first year with the Sun.

“Just a dynamic collegiate scorer, coming out,” Miller said of adding Williams in 2016. “We had gotten into the season, we were looking for a spark and she was on the bench as a rookie with a very veteran team in Phoenix, barely playing. So, she was a person that we targeted that we thought we could go after and really bring something to the table. It was just a perfect match for us.”

It didn’t take long for her to become an integral part of the Sun’s rotation. Over the next three seasons, she started 91 out of 98 games. In 2018, she set the franchise’s record with 15 made field goals while scoring the most points in regulation (34). A year later, she helped the Sun reach the playoff finals for the first time since 2005, averaging 17.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.4. assists in the postseason.

But Williams was traded to Atlanta before the 2020 season as part of a multi-team deal with Connecticut and Phoenix which saw Briann January joining the Sun from the Mercury.

Williams start in Atlanta was positive. She led all guards in the league in 2020 with 7.2 rebounds per game and started in 14 of the Dream’s 20 games.

Last season, Williams earned her first WNBA All-Star nod. She led the league in the regular season in total minutes played (1,101) and was first among all guards with 219 total rebounds. She reached the the 2,000-career points milestone after leading Atlanta with 16.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Then came the offseason.

While Williams was an unrestricted free agent following the 2021 season, ESPN reported Atlanta did not want to resign the Georgia native after a video surfaced of her and former Dream teammate Crystal Bradford involved in a physical altercation outside a club in Atlanta in May.

In November, a month after the video circulated on social media, the WNBA suspended both Williams and Bradford heading into the 2022 season for violating the league’s health and safety protocols. Per the suspension, Williams will sit out Connecticut’s first two games of the season.

Williams said Jones and Miller were some of the first people to reach out to her following the news of the video and of her suspension.

“Man, it was love, it was really love,” she said. “It meant so much to me because you know how you get on Twitter and there be all this hating and everybody got everything to say, who never even have a conversation with you, right? So it felt good to know the people who actually know me, have been in my energy before, hitting my line and letting me know like, ‘You good, we all make mistakes. Life goes on. You’re gonna be alright.’ ”

Jones said she reached out because she knew Williams deserved better than the negativity she was getting on social media.

“First things first, she’s a friend,” Jones said. “When you know someone’s heart and you know their character, you check on them. Sometimes questionable things happen. … All of us have done something that we probably shouldn’t have been doing. But for her, it was blasted on social media, someone reported it and it came out.

“When you think about the things that you’ve done and the possibilities of those things being out there you kinda have a little more empathy for a person in that situation. But ultimately, I care about her and that’s my friend.”

In the meantime, the Sun was working out its roster plans for the 2022 season. It would return its core in Jones, Bonner and Thomas but lose January to Seattle during the offseason. With Jones signing for just under the super-max contract amount, the team was able to find room for Williams. Connecticut made the signing of Williams’ one-year contract official on February 2.

“What’s so underrated about Courtney Williams is she’s really smart X’s and O’s wise, she gets it and she plays confidently and strong with the basketball,” Miller said. “She’s got a swagger about her that she can score against anyone.

“It’s really fun to have a player that can go get her own shot, create her own shot again. We haven’t had that at the wing. Her energy is contagious, it is really contagious to our whole team. She just loves to play. … One of my all-time favorites. Been doing this 32 years, one of my all-time favorites to coach.”

For Williams, it was a chance to play, to stay in the league and show she’s growing and maturing both on and off the court.

“I can think the game now, definitely couldn’t do that in my rookie years,” she said. “Just the experience and the players that I’ve been around, I play with just helped mold me and teach me the game and I think that’s the definitely the biggest jump in my basketball career.”

“Growth, right, staying out of trouble,” Williams added with a laugh. “Just trying to stay out of trouble, man, stay out of the way. Good, positive vibes.”

In the first couple days of training camp, Williams has quickly become a veteran presence. She’s one of, if not the, most vocal players on the court. She pulls aside players to give them quick feedback and advice and even jokes around with the team staff on the sideline.

On Sunday, she called second-year Sun player DiJonai Carrington and told her to just be herself during camp.

“She’s gonna shoot it to be straight,” Carrington said. “It was really good for me just focusing on just playing my game and not thinking so much and just doing what I do because she saw me play AU (Athletes Unlimited over the winter) … Her confidence and just her swag and all those things, it just exudes like fire.”

There’s still a few weeks until Williams will make her game return with the Sun, but for now she’s just thankful to be back with the team that first gave her a chance as a professional.

She’s thankful to be home.

“It feels amazing. It feels natural, honestly,” Williams said. “Same coaching staff, all the players coming in, knowing that I’m coming back in with my sisters so it just feels good to be here. … Sometimes it’s not always about the money or the things that you can necessarily bring on the court, it’s how you’re treated when you’re off the court, the person.

“I think they always treated me like family off the court and that’s an amazing thing for me because obviously, yeah, I could be a weapon on the court and I can be a prize, but at the same time we still human beings and we still gotta go through a human experience and it’s like, ‘Are you still gonna rock with me when things not good? Are you still gonna rock with me when I’m learning and I’m growing and I’m getting older and trying to learn through my mistakes?’ And that’s what they’ve done, and they’ve always done. These (are) my people, man.”