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Three Tar Heel national championship starters played one NBA season.
An ongoing debate is if college basketball stars who cannot have a big career playing professionally at home should go overseas, make good money and see the world.
Take Jawad Williams, Deon Thompson and Marcus Ginyard.
All three played on NCAA champions under Roy Williams but were not drafted and had careers playing pro in Europe and Asia and experiencing more than they ever could riding the bench for an NBA team.
The poster child for that is Jawad Williams. He was recruited by Matt Doherty and as a freshman was on the infamous 8-20 team of 2001-2002. Jawad is in the news for being back in the country, signing with the Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach.
Williams hung in there after Ol’ Roy returned to UNC and started 105 games over four seasons, ending his college career on the 2005 ACC regular season and national champion. He and fellow All-ACC defensive teammate Jackie Manuel went from one of the worst teams in the ACC to the best in the country.
A native of Cleveland and prep All-American, Jawad played part of the 2010 season for the NBA Cavaliers. He played 17 years overseas in Türkiye, France, Greece, Israel, Japan and Spain. Sorry, Jawad, I might have missed one! His wife and their children had a spectacular life over two decades.
Teammates Thompson and Ginyard started more than 200 games for the Tar Heels. Both graduated after the 2010 season and own championship rings from the 2009 team led by Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson and Danny Green. The 6-8 Californian is still playing in South Korea and had the destination wedding of all time for his family, former teammates and friends.
Ginyard was Mr. Basketball in Virginia. He came close to attending Duke but signed with UNC and started games every season before he was forced to take a red-shirt year in 2009 after being injured early in the campaign. Ginyard loved playing for more than a dozen pro teams all over the world, learning the languages and submitting travelogue columns from abroad.
Every Christmas, his mother Annise met Marcus in the country where he was playing and they had an unforgettable holiday. Ginyard finally retired from basketball, has worked for the Rams Club and is currently in commercial real estate in Raleigh.
We hear so much about the Tar Heels who had the talent and the good breaks to make it in the NBA and have had wealthy and wonderful careers in this country. But Jawad, Deon and Marcus did it their way and do not regret it. They always came back to Chapel Hill during parts of their off seasons to join the family that got them started in seeing the world.
Featured image via Deon Thompson on Twitter
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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