{"id":686984,"date":"2026-03-30T00:04:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T00:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/686984\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T00:04:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T00:04:18","slug":"ziaire-williams-is-surging-late-and-the-nets-are-taking-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/686984\/","title":{"rendered":"Ziaire Williams is surging late, and the Nets are taking notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ziaire Williams<\/a> has been one of the few Nets<\/a> who\u2019s made the last few weeks feel like they\u2019re about something other than the standings. He\u2019s been efficient, disruptive and increasingly comfortable in a bigger offensive role, even as Brooklyn\u2019s season has slid deeper into the evaluation portion of the calendar.<\/p>\n

Entering Sunday\u2019s game against the Sacramento Kings, Williams had averaged 17.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.8 steals over his last five games while shooting 52.8% from the field and 50% from 3-point range. It\u2019s the sharpest stretch he\u2019s put together all season, and it\u2019s come with a clear idea behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to expand my game, not force anything,\u201d Williams said. \u201cJust provide energy, get some steals and deflections and just have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nets head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez has leaned into the same theme when he\u2019s talked about Williams recently. He\u2019s praised the production, but he\u2019s focused more on the way Williams has handled the moment. More responsibility. More eyes. More pressure to be steady while lineups churn around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he\u2019s playing well and I\u2019m extremely proud of him, how he\u2019s embracing every single situation and opportunity, how big of a pro he has been and how supportive he\u2019s been with his teammates,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s been great to see, not just because he\u2019s scoring more or less. Obviously, I\u2019ve been running more plays for him because it\u2019s also good to see what he can do in those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nets aren\u2019t just letting Williams cook. They\u2019re testing him. They\u2019re giving him second-side actions, putting him in pick-and-roll, asking him to make quick decisions with the ball and then live with the results. Fern\u00e1ndez said he still wants Williams living in the areas where he\u2019s at his best, decisive catch-and-shoot 3s, straight-line drives, simple reads and then the defensive work that changes the game\u2019s tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think still the way he shines is when he is very aggressive defensively and then he keeps it simple offensively,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cPutting the ball in his hands, I think it\u2019s good. \u2026 I still want to see him being decisive, shooting catch-and-shoot 3s, getting to the rim, but then his superpower \u2026 guard the best player on the court, be disruptive, get deflections, all of those things that gave the team energy. And I think that\u2019s when Z is at his best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has a team option for $6.2 million next season and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027-28, which makes this late-season burst matter even on a team out of the postseason picture. The 24-year-old had played in one of Brooklyn\u2019s last 10 fourth quarters entering Sunday, and he hasn\u2019t played in any of the past five. He\u2019s been productive enough that his minutes can complicate the Nets\u2019 late-season slide.<\/p>\n

So, even with the team option looming, this isn\u2019t just about points. It\u2019s about habits and buy-in, whether Williams stays connected defensively, keeps the reads simple and shows the same professionalism regardless of role. That, more than any one hot stretch, is what the Nets have been tracking as the season winds down.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, he\u2019s taken advantage of all those opportunities,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cHe\u2019s embraced what we\u2019re doing and the process, which is the best thing, right? \u2026 I\u2019m happy with him and I\u2019ve seen what I had to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ziaire Williams has been one of the few Nets who\u2019s made the last few weeks feel like they\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,6,671,4610],"class_list":{"0":"post-686984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklynnets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nets","14":"tag-ziaire-williams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116315204359348862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}