The Long Island Nets lost a big piece of their team on Monday afternoon as wing Nate Williams officially signed with the Golden State Warriors on a two-way deal. This comes as Williams has been one of Long Island’s biggest scorers and playmakers.
Williams becomes the first Long Island player to be called-up for a two-way deal this season…
The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer was first with the news…
A league source told NetsDaily that Williams had hoped to remain with the Nets at the NBA level, but ultimately planned to pursue the best available opportunity for him. “He can really help out a playoff team,” the source said. Now Williams gets the chance to do just that as the Warriors control their own destiny, sitting with a 29-26 record.
While Williams would have been a solid player on both ends of the court with Brooklyn, his turning 27 years old put him outside of Brooklyn’s timeline. Brooklyn’s average age, a little more than 23 years old, is youngest in the NBA. The Warriors who still see themselves as a contender got a very talented shooter.
After going undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft, Williams joined the Utah Jazz for the 2022 NBA Summer League. He would later sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Jazz before being waived and ending up on the Salt Lake City G League team.
Since then, Williams has bounced around, playing a total of 47 games at the NBA level, starting four of them, across three seasons from 2022 through 2025. He played five games for the Portland Trail Blazers in 2022-23, then the Houston Rockets, averaging 3.3 points in 7.4 minutes per contest.
He also appeared in 81 regular-season G League games, starting 62 of them, across three seasons with the Salt Lake City Stars and Rio Grande Valley Vipers. After Williams was waived by the Rockets in July, he found himself on the South Bay Lakers roster. It’s safe to say that Williams has become a bit of a mainstay on the West Coast, despite being a Sag Harbor, Long Island native.
When Williams was asked about his development so far this season, Williams told NetsDaily, “I feel good, I feel really good … I feel confident. I’m just continuing to work every day, take care of my body, and put in the work behind the scenes that nobody sees. I just want to continue to try and perform and get this team to win some games.”
Long Island fans saw a connection built between Williams and Yuri Collins before Collins left to go and play overseas in Israel. Williams and Collins who had been the G League’s top playmaker were both G League veterans that Brooklyn acquired this summer to help with the rookies’ adjustment as they cycled through the Island. Collins had some very nice words to say about Williams.
“Nate’s just one of those guys who knows how to play basketball,” Collins told ND. “You don’t have to say too much to him. He’s an older guy. He’s played in the NBA and has a lot of minutes in the G League as well. A lot of our stuff is stuff we don’t even have to talk about, it’s just kind of our experiences coming together and making plays like that on the court.”
For the remainder of the season, Williams shared a few goals he had in mind with ND: “Shooting, playmaking, just trying to be a complete player for this team and a leader for this team. Not be emotional. Not get down on my teammates. Try to encourage my teammates, and just be a good teammate and a good player. Moreso, be a good teammate. I put a lot of work in. I’m not worried about the basketball part of it; that’ll take care of itself. But, just be a good teammate, and try my hardest to help this team win.”
Williams has averaged 17.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 steals in his 22 regular-season games for the Long Island Nets. These numbers are fairly on par with what he did throughout the first 13 games in the Tip-Off Tournament, where he averaged 19.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.2 steals.
In his final game for Long Island before the All-Star break, Williams showed up in a big way. The New York native (Rochester) separated himself head and shoulders from everyone else. Williams finished the game connecting on 12 of his 23 shots, for better than 50%, and went 3-of-9 from deep for a huge 30-point game.
Williams impressive day didn’t stop there. He hauled in seven rebounds, as well as picking up two assists. Now, he has his chance to play alongside one of the NBA’s greatest shooters of all time, Steph Curry.
Williams signing opens up a G League standard spot for Long Island, but it doesn’t yet resolve Brooklyn’s open roster spot or the secondary moves if Brooklyn makes a call-up of their own from Long Island.
For a long time this season, one had to figure that a two-way deal was going to be given to Grant Nelson or Nate Williams. Now, it seems like the Warriors have answered that question for Long Island. Now, should Brooklyn want to elevate E.J. Liddell to a standard deal, a two-way spot would be Nelson’s to lose. Not to mention, Brooklyn can also use a 10-day deal here and there for tryouts of sorts.
All in all, this is a fantastic move for Williams. It’s a move that’s well-deserved. However, this will put Long Island in a less-than-ideal spot as the G League playoffs are right around the corner. Who steps up now? Long Island lost arguably its best scorer and biggest playmaker; however, all hope is not lost. The Long Island team now revolves around their NBA assignees, their three two-ways and Alabama seven-footer Grant Nelson who has repeatedly said his goal in a two-way slot. .
