Robert Lee Williams III was selected as the 27th overall pick by the Boston Celtics in the 2018 NBA Draft. Also known as "Time Lord," Williams has emerged as a premier rim protector who continues to show occasional flashes of promise on the offensive end for the Celtics.
Get to know more about Williams below:
Robert Williams III's bio
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- Height: 6-foot-9
- Weight: 237 pounds
- Birthdate: October 17, 1997
- Birthplace: Shreveport, Louisiana
- College: Texas A&M
- NBA experience: 5 years
- Jersey number: 44
Robert Williams III's career NBA stats
Here are some of Robert Williams' career achievements and statistics:
- All-Defensive Second-Team selection (2021-22)
- 2021-22 NBA Defensive Rating leader, 102.4
- Career-high in points: 21 (Dec. 22, 2021)
- Career-high in rebounds: 17 (Jan. 25, 2022)
- Career-high in blocks: 7 (Jan. 6, 2022)
- Career averages (through 2021-22 season):
- 7.3 points per game
- 6.9 rebounds per game
- 1.4 assists per game
- 1.7 blocks per game
- 65.6% free throw percentage
- 73.2% field goal percentage
Here are Robert Williams III's contract details with the Celtics
Robert Williams III signed a four-year, $54 million contract extension with the Celtics in August 2021.
The extension, which kicks in for the 2022-23 season, bounds Williams to Boston through the 2025-26 season.
Williams can become a free agent at age 28, after his eighth NBA season.
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Robert Williams III's college career
The 51st-ranked prospect in ESPN's top 100 for the high school class of 2016, Williams landed at Texas A&M out of North Caddo High School in Vivian, Louisiana. He was the No. 1 ranked player from Louisiana in the class of 2016.
Over two seasons for the Aggies, Williams averaged 11.1 points per game, 8.7 rebounds per game and 2.5 blocks per game on 59.1% shooting. He was twice named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and was both All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman in 2016-17.
Texas A&M finished 16-15 during Williams' freshman campaign, missing out on the NCAA Tournament, but rebounded to finish 22-13 his sophomore season. The Aggies advanced to the Sweet 16, where they were blown out by national runner-up Michigan, 99-72.
After two seasons in College Station, where he remains the program leader in blocks per game, total rebounding percentage and player efficiency rating, Williams declared for the 2018 NBA Draft.
Where did Robert Williams III's nickname come from?
Williams' "Time Lord" nickname originated on Twitter after two incidents as a rookie in which he overslept his introductory press conference and was absent from his first practice after missing a flight to Boston.
Ryan Hebert, whose Twitter account @Riffs_Man is popular on a corner of the internet known as "Weird Celtics Twitter," explained the backstory in a 2018 interview with MassLive.
"We started joking that he wasn't late, he was operating on a different timeline concurrent to the one we are in, as evidenced by the fact that I knew he was a Celtic two years before he was a Celtic," Hebert said.
"And we would do it with people taking themselves really seriously and they'd get very mad at us for thinking they were too uptight. So from there he became a T I M E L O R D, like the characters in Doctor Who whose time travel can tie together terrible holes in the plot of a shoddy script."
A look at Robert Williams III's shoe deal
Williams is a part of Nike's LeBron line, currently wearing the LeBron 17s, although he's worn both 16s and 18s in the past.
Meet Robert Williams III's family
Robert Williams III is the son of Robert II and Tundra Williams and has one sister, Brittanni.