Corliss Williamson

Corliss Mondari Williamson (born December 4, 1973) is an American basketball coach who serves as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also a former player who played for four teams during his 12-year career. In 2002, Williamson was selected as NBA Sixth Man of the Year. His nickname is "Big Nasty", a moniker he received from his AAU coach when he was 13. Williamson was a dominating power forward in college at Arkansas, but an undersized power forward in the NBA and mostly played at the small forward position.

Amateur career

High school Corliss Williamson played basketball at Russellville High School, where he achieved numerous accolades. He was a three-time all-conference and all-state selection, and was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 1992. and led his team to the King Cotton Classic championship. In the title game, Russellville defeated a team led by Jason Kidd, with Williamson blocking a potential game-winner by Kidd at the buzzer. Williamson was named tournament MVP, but gave his medal to his teammate, Marcus Thompson, at the award podium. He came in second in scoring to game MVP Othella Harrington, with fourteen points, and also had ten rebounds. His #34 jersey has been retired by Russellville High and hangs on the wall of the school's arena, along with his McDonald's All-American jersey.

College Williamson played at the University of Arkansas from 1992 to 1995. In the 1992–93 season, Williamson led Arkansas to a 22–9 record and a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament, losing to the eventual national champion, the North Carolina Tar Heels. Williamson averaged 14.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game,

NBA career

Williamson declared for the NBA draft following his junior season, and was selected by the Sacramento Kings as a lottery pick (13th overall) in the first round of the 1995 NBA draft. His best career year was in the 1997–98 season when he played 79 games and averaged 17.7 points per game for the Kings, finishing second to Alan Henderson for the NBA Most Improved Player Award. After Sacramento traded him prior to the 2000–01 season to the Toronto Raptors (in exchange for Doug Christie), for whom he played 42 games, Williamson was traded to the Detroit Pistons, along with Kornel David, Tyrone Corbin, and a 2005 first-round draft choice in a package for Jerome Williams and Eric Montross. In the 2001–02 season he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year and eventually was a member of the Pistons' 2003–04 NBA Championship team. Although coming off the bench, Williamson served a pivotal role in the Detroit offense. His coaches often looked to him in the low post when the Pistons needed a basket, where his unique skill set made him a difficult matchup as he was too powerful for small forwards to guard and too quick for power forwards. After being traded by the Pistons along with an undisclosed amount of cash to the Philadelphia 76ers for Derrick Coleman and Amal McCaskill on August 8, 2004, he was again traded back to the Kings along with Brian Skinner and Kenny Thomas for power forward Chris Webber on February 22, 2005. He worked as a volunteer coach during his three years at Arkansas Baptist, succeeding Charles Ripley as the head coach for his final season at the school.

On March 12, 2010, Williamson was announced as the men's head basketball coach at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. Promising to play an exciting style of play similar to his former head coach Nolan Richardson,

On August 2, 2013, Williamson left Central Arkansas to become an assistant for the Sacramento Kings.

On June 29, 2016, Williamson was hired by the Orlando Magic as an assistant coach. Vogel had previously been an assistant coach to Williamson when he played for the 76ers. However, after Frank Vogel was fired in 2018, Williamson would be fired as well.

On June 27, 2018, Williamson was hired by the Phoenix Suns as an assistant coach. Williamson was previously connected to Igor by playing under him back when Kokoškov was an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons during the 2003–04 championship season. However, when Kokoškov was fired after his only season as head coach for the Suns, Williamson would also be fired alongside the rest of the team's coaching staff that season.

On June 30, 2023, Williamson was signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves as an assistant coach.

On August 18, 2025, Williamson was announced as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs