Jazz Rookie Cody Williams' College Ankle Injury Served as Opportunity to Learn Impacting Winning in New Ways

While an injury may have held Cody Williams back late in the season at Colorado, it served as a valuable opportunity in hindsight.

Feb 24, 2024; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes forward Cody Williams (10) drives past Utah Utes forward Jake Wahlin (10) in the second half at the CU Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into the recent college season, Cody Williams was one of the most highly anticipated freshmen in the country. The younger brother of Oklahoma City Thunder rising star Jalen Williams, the Colorado forward was set to be a one-and-done collegiate player. 

Although he had a great season holistically, Williams’ numbers fluctuated tremendously throughout the season. This is primarily due to the fact that he faced numerous injuries throughout the year, but the most significant was an ankle injury — a Grade 3 ligament tear — suffered in late February. 

When looking at Williams’ statistics before and after this timeframe, there’s a stark difference. This was an injury that many prospects would have considered season-ending and began recovering ahead of the draft. Instead, Williams pushed through. 

In the 17 games leading up to the injury, he averaged 14.2 points per contest while shooting nearly 60% from the floor and better than 45% from beyond the arc. Upon his return from injury, he wasn’t as impactful on the defensive end, while also producing just 6.3 points per game while shooting 40.5% from the field and 14.3% from deep. 

While on the surface you could say playing through the injury may have appeared to be a questionable decision, it actually allowed Williams to learn about himself and how to impact the game in new ways. This was a time in which he was limited physically and had to get creative in how he helped the team win. 

As such, playing through and finishing the season could pay dividends long-term. 

“Especially dealing with injuries, just finding new ways to score,” Williams told Draft Digest when reminiscing on the final stretch of the season. "And being creative, or even just being effective on the court. Especially going into the tournament. I couldn't run, I couldn't really cut or plant, couldn't jump off this right foot. So now I gotta play with more pace. I gotta be more crafty. Use ball screens, kinda get the defense on my hip. When you're limited, you kind of find new ways to be effective in the game. I kind of lost my speed and my quickness. It's like, how can you adjust to that?”

Williams is a smart player who turns adversity into opportunity. Though his stats dipped towards the end of the season following the ankle injury, he learned from it. 

Now a member of the Utah Jazz, Cody Williams will look to impact winning in many ways during his first NBA season. He’s versatile on both ends of the floor, so he should get minutes early on. 

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