Mikey Williams may be the best basketball recruit in NC but UNC, Duke won’t bite. Why?
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Mikey Williams may be the best basketball recruit in NC but UNC, Duke won’t bite. Why?
Mikey Williams is just 17 years old, but he’s already a basketball star, a social media influencer and a real-time experiment in the wild new world of high school hoops. He has 3.5 million Instagram followers, a sponsorship deal with Puma and a life that doesn’t always feel real.
“I feel like I’m in a simulation sometimes,” Williams said.
Williams plays for a pop-up high school basketball program in Charlotte called Vertical Academy, a team that was created by his father, Mahlon Williams. The first-year independent startup squad has no home games and doesn’t have to follow the rules imposed by any high school athletic association.
Vertical Academy plays a national schedule that necessitates getting on an airplane and traveling out of state almost every weekend.
If it sounds far from traditional, that’s because it is. But Williams, a junior, is also “definitely” going to college, according to his father, Mahlon Williams. So Mikey Williams’ path will one day become a more familiar one, according to what both father and son told The Observer in separate interviews.
The springy, 6-foot-2 combo guard plans to play next year at Vertical Academy again as a senior. Then he believes he will play one year in college, in 2023-24, before entering the 2024 NBA Draft.
“That’s the plan right now,” Mikey Williams said of enrolling in college for a “one-and-done” year.
Going to an HBCU for that one collegiate season is under real consideration, both Williams and his father said. But Mahlon Williams said that the other options — leagues in both America and overseas in which Williams could get paid a basketball salary earlier — are not currently on the family’s radar.
“He’s definitely going to college,” Mahlon Williams said of his son. “Me and him had a really long discussion about that a couple of days ago. Every six months or so, we kind of gauge where we’re at, and he wants to be a part of the college environment.”
Given that, and the fact that Mikey Williams is a 5-star recruit who is the consensus No. 15 player in the Class of 2023 and the No. 1 player in North Carolina, according to 247Sports, it seems curious that Duke and North Carolina aren’t among the schools recruiting him. His father has some theories, though.
Said Mahlon Williams of his son’s college opportunities at high-major schools: “I believe that a lot of people at some point didn’t think he was going to school, right? ... Then there’s a lot of really great guards in this class that they like and that are committed to them … But I also think a lot of those major schools don’t want to be beat out by a HBCU. I mean could you imagine? If Duke recruits you, or North Carolina recruits you, and you end up at North Carolina Central? That’s not a good look for them.”
It’s hard to tell if that’s really the case; colleges are barred by NCAA rules from talking openly about potential recruits.
How good is Mikey Williams?
What’s also hard to tell is exactly what Williams’ true potential really is.
Certainly, he’s an outstanding teenage basketball player. And he’s famous in certain circles, having risen to prominence in the social media age. Being able to dunk as a middle schooler, scoring 77 points in a California high school game and, for a while, playing on the same AAU team as LeBron James’ son, Bronny, all helped his rise.
I watched Williams play in person for the first time Saturday, and it’s clear he could start on most college basketball teams right now. But will he be an outstanding NBA player one day?
I’ve also made pilgrimages during my sportswriting career to watch both LeBron James and Zion Williamson play when they were each in high school. Both looked like men among boys and were dominant for practically every second they were on the court.
Williams, although a powerful player with explosive athleticism, is not that.
In the game I watched — the Charlotte Hornets’ LaMelo Ball was in the audience, too, a real-life example of how well an unconventional basketball path can turn out — Williams mostly floated through the first half. He didn’t dig in for rebounds too often even though his team was getting beaten on the boards, he wasn’t his team’s primary ball-handler and he didn’t shoot that well.
In the second half, he was far more engaged and effective, scoring 14 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter against a big, strong team from Canada. Williams brought his team back from a 10-point deficit in the last three minutes, but then missed a difficult driving shot in the final seconds of Vertical Academy’s 80-78 loss.
By game’s end, Williams also had four highlight-reel dunks, including one in which an alley-oop pass was thrown slightly behind him and Williams managed to adjust in mid-air, switch hands with the ball and dunk it over his head.
Creating his own narrative
This isn’t a LeBron situation, but it’s also a long way from a “The emperor has no clothes” situation. Mikey Williams can play. He may indeed wind up as an NBA lottery pick in 2024. But he also needs to improve everything from defense to 3-point shooting.
“He has some things to work on,” Mahlon Williams said, “but thank God we don’t have to go to the draft this year, right? … His head is on straight, he understands what it takes to get there. And he’s the perfect person for it.”
Vertical Academy — whose players take online classes in association with Lake Norman Christian, where Williams played as a sophomore in 2020-21 after moving to Charlotte from California — is designed to make its players understand the strengths and weaknesses in their game.
The idea was to “create our own narrative,” Mahlon Williams said, where you only play other good teams and don’t worry about traditional goals like state championships.
Vertical Academy’s first-year record is “around .500,” head coach Chandler Scott said, but the wins and losses are secondary.
“Our No. 1 goal is getting these kids ready to play at the next level,” Scott said, “no matter what that level may be.”
As for Mikey Williams, he has already become one of the first high schoolers to get a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal, which he’s been able to do because of Vertical Academy’s independent status. He’s making money as a basketball player and influencer already. To put Williams’ 3.5 million Instagram followers in some perspective: Carolina Panther Christian McCaffrey, Charlotte Hornet Miles Bridges and former race-car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. have 3 million Instagram followers combined.
How much is Williams making with the NIL deal, exactly?
“Without saying a number,” Mahlon Williams said, “it has been awfully great to us. We got the Puma shoe deal. The NFTs. He’s got trading cards. So it’s been great.”
In many ways, Mikey Williams is still a mystery. As good as he is and as well-known as he is — he mentioned that he had recently been texting NBA All-Star Damian Lillard for some advice — a lot of potential pitfalls await. Social media can be a double-edged sword. Great basketball players who will compete with him are being groomed all over the world.
I asked Williams if he worried about making a big mistake that could be amplified.
“Nah,” Williams said. “I’m living life free. I’m 17.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
