Former Blazers All-Star Forward Buck Williams a Finalist for 2025 Hall of Fame Class

Will the Portland standout make the grade this fall?

Unknown Date; Portland, OR, USA: FILE PHOTO; A studio portrait of Portland Trail Blazers forward Buck Williams (52). Mandatory Credit: Imagn Images / Imagn Images

Former three-time All-Star power forward Buck Williams, who split a prolific 17-year pro career between the then-New Jersey Nets and the Portland Trail Blazers, has been named a finalist for this year's Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class, the Hall announced on Friday.

Portland's social media team congratulated the 6-foot-8 star on his good fortune. It's an exciting moment in Trail Blazers history.

Congratulations, Buck! 🙌 https://t.co/XjAXfutuBu

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 15, 2025

Williams was selected with the No. 3 overall pick out of Maryland in the 1981 NBA Draft by the Nets. From 1981-89, he emerged as an All-Star and MVP candidate with New Jersey. Williams logged regular season averages of 16.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.9 steals on the Nets during this stretch.

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Portland flipped oft-hurt lottery bust Sam Bowie (the man the team's front office decided to draft ahead of Michael Jordan in 1984) plus a future draft pick in exchange for Williams during the 1989 offseason. Williams played for the Trail Blazers between 1989-96, appearing in two NBA Finals in 1990 and '92 on Clyde Drexler-led squads. Williams transitioned into more of a defensive role with the Trail Blazers.

He averaged 10.2 points on 55 percent field goal shooting and 69.5 percent free throw shooting, 8.7 boards, 1.1 dimes, 0.8 swipes and 0.6 blocks across 557 regular season games (497 starts) for Portland, but nevertheless finished 10th in MVP voting during his inaugural Portland season, 1989-90, and among the top six in Defensive Player of the Year voting the subsequent two seasons.

All told, Williams was an All-Defensive Teamer three times with Portland.

March 31 1996 - Buck Williams entered @trailblazers game vs @dallasmavs w/15,999 pts in his career.

When he made his 1st basket early in 2nd qtr, he became only 8th player in @NBAHistory to record 16K pts & 12K rebs. #Blazers #RipCity #thisdateBlazersHistory pic.twitter.com/GwMLlp7GP6

— Blazers History (@77Blazers) March 31, 2022

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Ahead of the 1996-97 NBA season, Williams signed on with another '90s also-ran, the New York Knicks, serving as the club's third big behind starters Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley. He retired in 1999.

Across 1,307 career games (1,140 starts), Williams holds averages of 12.8 points on 54.9 percent field goal shooting and 66.4 percent free throw shooting, 10.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.8 steals.

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