What is Jayson Williams' Net Worth and Career Earnings?
Jayson Williams is a retired American professional basketball player who has a net worth of $40 million. He is best known for his time with the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets, although he was forced to retire after about ten years due to injury. His athletic career was notably marred by various legal issues, including the accidental shooting death of his 55-year-old limo driver.
Early Life
Jayson Williams was born on February 22nd, 1968, in Ritter, South Carolina. His family has Polish, Italian, and African-American roots. During his early years, Jayson played on his high school basketball team in New York City, later attending St. John's University. Williams played on his college team as well.
Career
Williams' NBA career began when he was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1990. Chosen in the first round, he was quickly traded to the 76ers by the Suns and spent two years as a bench player. By 1992, he had been traded once again, this time to the New Jersey Nets. Williams didn't enjoy much playing time with the Nets, either. In fact, he recorded only 12 starts within his first three seasons. However, the Nets eventually gave him a full-time starting position before the 1996-97 season. As a power forward and center, Williams shone that year, leading the league in offensive rebounds and offensive rebound percentage. He also was one of the top five NBA players when it came to total rebounds, rebounds per game, total rebound percentage, and offensive rating. That year, Jayson received his first and only All-Star selection and played in the 1998 NBA All-Star Game.
Unfortunately, Williams' career stopped almost immediately after he had achieved such high levels of success. After colliding with teammate Stephon Marbury, Jayson broke his right leg. The 1999 game against the Atlanta Seahawks proved to be his last major appearance in the NBA. His surgical treatment made a future in basketball extremely unlikely, especially since he had a metal plate and five screws inserted into his leg. Williams subsequently sat out all of the 1999-2000 season before announcing his retirement on June 28th, 2000. He was just 32 years old and had played only nine seasons. That being said, Jayson briefly returned to basketball to play sporadically in the Continental Basketball Association, joining the Idaho Stampede.
NBA Earnings
At the time of his retirement, Williams was just one year into a six-year, $86-million contract with the Nets. He ended up receiving virtually all of that contract, and the Nets covered their share with an insurance policy. Outside of his last contract, Jayson earned an additional $35 million from previous NBA contracts for a total of $121 million in career earnings.
Frank H. Conlon-Pool/Getty Images
Relationships
In 1996, Jayson proposed during a basketball game to his girlfriend at the time, Cynthia Bailey. Bailey is known for her modeling career and her appearances in various shows, such as "The Cosby Show" and "The Real Housewives of Atlanta." Williams and Bailey eventually split up. In 1999, Jayson married Kellie Batiste in 1999. However, the pair divorced quite quickly. In 2000, he married Tanya Young, who earned a role in the show "Basketball Wives: LA." This would prove to be his longest marriage, although Williams and Young split up in 2011.
Legal Issues
Jayson has struggled with a number of legal issues over the course of his life. In 1992, he was accused of assaulting a patron at a saloon in Chicago. He reportedly broke a beer mug over someone's head. In 1994, he faced charges of firing a weapon into a parking lot outside of the Meadowlands Sports Complex. However, he never faced any legal consequences for either of these acts.
In 2002, however, Williams couldn't escape prison time when he attempted to cover up the death of his limo driver, Costas "Gus" Christofi. The 55-year-old driver was apparently killed when Williams was playing with a shotgun when the weapon fired accidentally. Numerous witnesses saw the incident, as an entire NBA charity basketball team was present at the time. After a number of court appearances, Williams was acquitted of the most serious charges laid against him, but the jury couldn't decide whether or not to convict him on manslaughter charges. Finally, he was convicted on four counts related to his attempts to cover up the incident.
In 2006, an appeals court ruled that he could face another trial for manslaughter, but this trial has been delayed on multiple occasions. In 2009, the NYPD reported that Jayson had been shot with a taser after he had become suicidal and violent. He had consumed various bottles of prescription medication before this incident. After being tasered, Jayson was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Also in 2009, Williams was arrested in North Carolina for simple assault, although the charges were eventually dropped. Williams' troubles with the law continued, and in 2010, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. In 2010, he was finally sentenced to five years in prison. During this period, he also committed a DWI and faced an additional one-year sentence as a result. The incident was widely publicized and involved Williams crashing his Mercedes into a tree. In the end, he spent about a year in prison for killing his limo driver before being eligible for being moved to Rikers Island, where he served 8 months and was released from custody in 2012.
Real Estate
Jayson sold the New Jersey mansion where Christofi was killed for $8 million back in 2005. The property included a 27,000-square-foot main house and 65 acres of land.
