Casual watchers of Illinois basketball last year might not remember seeing a No. 25 jersey during the season. Max Williams, who donned No. 25 for the Illini last season, only played 15 minutes across 10 appearances as a senior walk-on during the team’s historic 2023-24 season.
Despite not seeing much game action, Williams’ impact behind the scenes left a lasting impression.
“You didn’t see him on the court, but he was out there making guys better, fighting Marcus Domask every day in booty-ball and guarding Terrence Shannon,” said head coach Brad Underwood ahead of the team’s Big Ten championship and Elite Eight ring ceremony. “There’s tremendous value in that. My hat’s off to Max, and what a wonderful young man. He deserves the opportunity to be recognized and wear that ring.”
Williams, a Chicago native, was a walk-on for three years at DePaul before going downstate to Champaign. He was integral to the scout team, which emulates the opponent’s style and personnel to help Illinois’ rotation players better prepare for games.
Being a walk-on is never easy. The hard work walk-ons put in every day doesn’t always translate to minutes, but Williams’ dedication paid off. He ended up on a scholarship for his final semester of college basketball.
“They had announced it to our team in a film session right after our home game against Michigan … I wasn’t really expecting it at all,” Williams said. “(Underwood) started talking about some things, and he was kind of going off in a different direction … He had mentioned my name, and then I was kind of like, ‘OK, why is he mentioning my name?’ … That’s when he had announced it to the team … Everyone in the room was super excited. It was a moment I’ll never forget.”
Williams originally planned to return to college basketball this season while simultaneously finishing his degree. However, basketball didn’t end up working out. Williams ultimately returned to Champaign as only a student for the fall 2024 semester. He graduated with a degree in consumer economics and finance.
“I was actually planning on using my COVID year, but that didn’t end up working out with the NCAA, so kind of last minute, I had to decide to stack up my classes and do just one last semester at Illinois so I could graduate,” Williams said. “Illinois was actually a school I had always wanted to go to since I was a kid, even if it was just as a regular student … It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my family to be able to have that degree and the doors that it can open for myself in the future outside of basketball.”
With a degree to his name and his college eligibility exhausted, Williams had to decide what was next. Williams made the choice to follow his former teammates’ paths and pursue the game at a professional level.
“Playing past college was kind of something that I had always thought about and envisioned for myself,” Williams said. “Starting my sophomore year at college and knowing that I had Thai background and citizenship — I think it was something that I was working on.”
Williams had looked into professional opportunities in Thailand. Unlike players who go the typical NBA, G League or European routes, he did something unique. Williams did some good old-fashioned research and reached out to the former Thailand national team coach about opportunities. That coach connected him with current national team players and their coach, guiding Williams to commit to playing in Thailand.
“I had a couple calls with him on WhatsApp and just told him that I had the desire to continue playing in Thailand, which was how I was able to get in contact with the BSAT, which is kind of the basketball association here in Thailand,” Williams said. “We have been talking for quite a while now, and it was a plan just for me to kind of get over here as soon as I graduated, so I could start playing in … the Thailand Open, just with eight teams, which actually just wrapped up.”
Arriving in Thailand in early January, Williams jumped right into playing for Chulalongkorn University Basketball Club. The club had already started competing in the Thailand Open.
“Even though it’s a school, I don’t go to school there,” Williams said. “But they have a team that plays in the tournament, and some of my other teammates don’t go to school there either. … They gave me the opportunity to play on that team, which I’m thankful for.”
Williams helped lead Chulalongkorn to a second-place finish in the Thailand Open. This included a 22-point, seven-rebound, four-assist and four-block performance in a blowout win against the Army Basketball Club. His club lost in the final to Hi-Tech, the top professional team in Thailand. Most of the Thai national team plays for Hi-Tech outside of FIBA competition.
Thai basketball is almost nothing like Big Ten basketball. Different playing conditions, such as having fans instead of air conditioning, took some getting used to. The on-court product was also an adjustment from the style in college.
“There’s not really a whole lot of sets, not a whole lot of plays,” Williams said. “The main thing, too, is they play really good defense over here. … It doesn’t matter what point of the game it is. You expect to play full court, like, the whole game … I had only been here about a week and played four games in eight days, so by my third, fourth game, I was adjusted and felt a lot better.”
Now that the Thailand Open is over, Williams has remained in Thailand in preparation for the next step of his professional journey: training camp for the national team. The Basketball Sport Association of Thailand is preparing to send 12 of 15 selected players to Window 3 of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
“I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think I’m headed towards the right direction right now (to make the team),” Williams said. “They had told me they’re looking for younger guys to build towards their future, as far as Thailand basketball and the Thai national team. Hopefully, I’ll know in a couple weeks (if I make it).”
Williams will go through training camp after having a break from organized play for a few weeks. He’ll be joined in training camp by multiple fully Thai players as well as another Thai-American, former UCLA starting guard (2011-12) Tyler Lamb.
No matter what happens in training camp, Williams remains focused on controlling what he can. His journey into professional basketball is just beginning, and Williams is doing all he can to succeed.
“I’m going to try and make the most of my opportunity here and do the best I can to make the best impression,” Williams said. “I’m going to see how things go in training camp … Just kind of seeing what happens there and then going from there. Just figuring stuff out as I go along.”
Illini fans who love to stay connected with their former players have not yet seen the last of Williams. He’ll be back later this year to watch a mostly new Illini squad featuring a few of his former teammates: junior guards AJ Redd and Keaton Kutcher, sophomore guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and redshirt junior Ty Rodgers.
“I’ll definitely go to senior night and then, from there, try to get to a couple games, maybe in March Madness,” Williams said. “I’ll definitely be coming back to visit Champaign.”
For now, though, Williams’ focus is in Thailand and on making the national team. Four years of college basketball, a Division I scholarship, a Big Ten championship, a highly regarded degree and now an opportunity to play basketball professionally — that’s one heck of a resume, and the Chicago kid is just beginning his journey.
@sahil_mittal24
