He is playing professionally in his homeland of England for the first time this season
London big man Deane Williams: Lions, GB Basketball in a good place
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The London Lions may have missed out on the BKT EuroCup Playoffs, but Great Britain international Deane Williams feels the club finds itself in a good position – as does British basketball.
Williams is playing professionally in his homeland for the first time, and the forward has excelled in his opening campaign in the EuroCup, averaging 8.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1. blocks through the first 16 rounds.
Being out of playoff contention stings for Williams because of the 'what if' element.
“It's disappointing that we're out of the playoffs, but I think what's probably more disappointing is the fact that we didn't actually get a real chance to see how far we could go or what kind of potential we had as a collective unit,” Williams told David Hein. “Guys were injured one week, and then they would come back, and then another person would go out, and it's just been this constant cycle of guys coming in and going out. So that's what we're most bummed about.”
Williams was actually a beneficiary of an injury himself as his production has taken a big jump since Round 8 after Joel Scott picked up a knock. Williams’s highest scoring output through the first eight games was 8 points, and since Round 9 he has averaged 11.9 points while playing at least 21 minutes in each game.
“At that point, it was either step up or maybe they'll get someone to come in for his place. So I just saw an opportunity to show what I was capable of, and the consistency has followed,” the 2.03-meter forward said. “The coach gave me a lot of confidence just to go out there and shoot my shots and play my game within the team's game.”
Williams said it feels great being able to show what he can do.
“It's not all down to scoring points or stat lines and stuff like that, but it just felt like I was making an impact every game. So it's nice to have that feeling, have the confidence from your teammates, from your coaches, day in, day out. It's definitely a wake-up call for me to stay on that path and continue to show what I'm capable of,” the 29-year-old said.
Williams arrived in London after an adventurous last season in which he played for three different teams in three different countries, starting with GeVi Napoli in Italy before moving to Ludwigsburg in Germany and finishing the campaign with Anwil Wloclawek in Poland.
“During that year, I just learned to take control of my situation and don't let others kind of dictate what I'm going to do with my journey,” he said.
Williams’s professional journey started in Iceland with Keflavik for two seasons and then Saint-Quentin in the French second division in 2021-22. He then moved to Germany, where he had his first taste of real success as Telekom Baskets Bonn won the Basketball Champions League and reached the Finals of the German League.
“Lifting the trophy was one thing, but I think my favorite memory was the collective group that lifted the trophy,” he said. “That feeling in the moment of winning was unmatched.”
Williams after last season decided it was time to give basketball in his homeland a chance as he signed with the London Lions. It was the first time he would be playing basketball in front of his friends and family since before he went to college in the United States in 2015.
“It's definitely something that I was always wishing I could do. When you're in Germany, in France, in Italy, you look at the guys and their locals there; they're speaking their local language and they're familiar with their surroundings and so on and so forth. They're living a good life. You kind of think to yourself, 'I wish I could do that,'” he said.
Williams is thankful to be back home, seeing his family and friends at games and doing his part to push the game in the country.
“When you tell people from England that you're a professional basketball player, they kind of look at you a bit funny and think, 'What does that look like'? Being able to come home and invite people to games at the Copper Box, it’s special because you know it opens their mind and maybe that person goes and tells another friend and that's how you know the game is growing over here.”
London’s biggest basketball moment came in 2023-24 when the team reached the EuroCup Semifinals, where it lost to Paris Basketball – ironically a major portion of the Paris team was the same one that played with Williams at Bonn the previous season.
Even though this season has not gone as hoped in the EuroCup, London has put together a strong roster for this season and picked up some good wins, the biggest being a 98-96 victory over Besiktas GAIN Istanbul at home in Round 11.
All that leads Williams to be optimistic about the state of the club and basketball in the country.
“I think it's in a good place at the moment. It's something that needs to be taken more seriously. There's a lot of hidden talent in the UK,” he said. “I think the exposure that we're getting as an organization is bringing attention to the struggles we're having as a country as a whole in terms of basketball representation. But it's in a good place and it's only going to continue to get better.”