Road to Duke
Before Mark Williams ever set foot in Cameron Indoor Stadium, his older sister Elizabeth had already made the place famous. Elizabeth Williams played at Duke from 2011 to 2015, was selected fourth overall in the 2015 WNBA Draft, and built a long professional career. Mark grew up watching her dominate from the stands. He knew what Duke blue looked like up close before he ever wore it.
Mark Oluwafemi Williams was born on December 16, 2001, in Norfolk, Virginia, to Margaret and Dr. Alex Williams — both of Nigerian descent. His father is a physician specializing in gastroenterology. The family name, Oluwafemi, means “God loves me” in Yoruba. In the Williams household, basketball wasn’t an abstract dream — it was a family tradition with a professional pedigree and an academic backbone.
Williams began his high school career at Norfolk Academy, a private school in his hometown. By the time he was a junior, he was averaging nearly 20 points, 11 rebounds, and close to 4 blocks per game, passing the 1,000-point threshold before his senior year. He transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida — the elite sports boarding school — for his final prep season.
He was a McDonald’s All-American selection and was named to the Jordan Brand Classic (canceled due to COVID-19). Rated a five-star recruit by 247Sports and Rivals, Williams committed to Duke on November 1, 2019, choosing the Blue Devils over Michigan and UCLA. The family connection was undeniable, but Williams insisted the decision was about winning a national championship and modeling his game after former Duke center Wendell Carter Jr.
He arrived in Durham in the fall of 2020 — into the strange, empty-arena world of COVID basketball — as a 7-foot-1 freshman with a 7-foot-7 wingspan and the ambition to follow his sister’s footsteps through the same hallowed gym.
At Duke
Williams played two seasons at Duke, appearing in 62 games with 54 starts, and averaged 9.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks while shooting an astonishing 70.4% from the field across his career.
As a freshman in 2020-21, he played behind the more experienced Matthew Hurt in the frontcourt rotation and averaged 7.1 points and 4.5 rebounds. The team stumbled through a COVID-disrupted season, but Williams’s defensive impact was immediate — his length and timing around the rim were elite from the start. In the ACC Tournament, he exploded: 23 points and 19 rebounds against Louisville in the second round, setting a record for the most rebounds by a freshman in ACC Tournament history, surpassing a mark Virginia’s Ralph Sampson had held since 1980. He earned second-team All-ACC Tournament honors.
His sophomore season (2021-22) was transformational — and historic. Playing alongside Paolo Banchero, Trevor Keels, AJ Griffin, and fellow big man Theo John, Williams became the anchor of Duke’s defense. He averaged 11.2 points on a staggering 72.1% shooting from the field — the second-best single-season mark in Duke history — along with 7.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. His 110 blocked shots ranked fourth-most in a single Duke season. He was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year and earned third-team All-ACC honors.
That season was Coach K’s last, and Williams was central to the farewell. In the Sweet Sixteen against Texas Tech, he posted 16 points and 8 rebounds. Against Arkansas in the Elite Eight, he was dominant in the paint as Duke punched its ticket to the Final Four. In the national semifinal against North Carolina — the most anticipated Duke-UNC game in history, played on college basketball’s biggest stage — Williams had 11 points and 5 blocks. Duke fell to Kansas in the championship game, 72-69, and with it Coach K’s career came to an end. Williams’s career total of 142 blocks ranked seventh in Duke history.
Williams declared for the 2022 NBA Draft after his sophomore year. He had come to Duke because of his sister. He left having helped send Coach K to one final championship game — the kind of family-and-program legacy that can’t be drawn up on a whiteboard.
After Duke
The Charlotte Hornets selected Williams 15th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft. His rookie season was a study in patience. He began behind veteran Mason Plumlee on the depth chart, but when Plumlee was traded to the Clippers in February 2023, Williams stepped into the starting role and never looked back. He averaged 9.0 points and 7.1 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game as a rookie, shooting 63.7% from the floor.
His second season (2023-24) was limited to just 19 games due to a back contusion — a maddening interruption for a player just beginning to blossom. When healthy, the production was impressive: 12.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks. He recorded a career-high 27 points against Indiana and a jaw-dropping 24 rebounds (15 offensive — a franchise record) against Washington.
The 2024-25 season was his breakout — and his most turbulent. Williams posted 15.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game across 44 appearances, establishing himself as a legitimate starting NBA center. He scored a career-high 31 points against the Utah Jazz in January 2025. But in February 2025, the Hornets agreed to trade him to the Los Angeles Lakers for Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, and draft compensation. The trade was rescinded two days later when Williams failed his physical — his chronic foot issues raising red flags. He returned to Charlotte in an awkward limbo.
In June 2025, the Hornets successfully traded Williams to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Vasilije Micić, the draft rights to Liam McNeeley, and a 2029 first-round pick. The Suns also used their draft pick on Williams’ former Duke teammate, Khaman Maluach.
Where Is He Now
As of March 2026, Mark Williams is the starting center for the Phoenix Suns, though he is currently sidelined with a stress reaction in his left foot — the latest chapter in a career that injuries have threatened to define. When healthy, he has been a productive force for a Suns team built around Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
Williams is 24 years old. Through three-plus NBA seasons, he has averaged 11.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks per game and has earned approximately $11.7 million. The pattern has been maddening: the back injury that limited his second season to 19 games, the foot issues that complicated the Lakers trade, the current stress reaction in Phoenix. When he plays, the production is excellent — the kind of center the modern NBA still needs, a lob threat, an elite rebounder, and a rim protector with size and wingspan that can’t be taught. The question has never been talent. It’s been availability.
The Williams family basketball legacy continues to grow. Elizabeth blazed the trail through Duke and the WNBA; Mark followed through the same gym and into the NBA. Their father, a physician, instilled discipline. Their Nigerian heritage gave them a name that carries meaning across an ocean and a decade of Blue Devil basketball. The Suns also drafted Williams’s former Duke teammate Khaman Maluach in the same deal — two Duke big men, reunited in the desert.