Ups and downs. Peaks and valleys. Ebbs and flows. The synonymous aforementioned three idioms encapsulate the Patrick Williams experience. In the first two games returning from a foot injury that cost the Chicago Bull a month of action, Williams averaged a mere 5.0 points and converted just 3-of-13 field goal attempts.
The former lottery pick's next six games went drastically different. From December 19 to the 30, Williams averaged 13.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.7 three-pointers per game while converting 44.4 percent of such attempts.
Things were on the up-and-up for the 6-foot-7 forward. Williams had found his groove and showed some much-needed assertiveness. He attempted double-digit field goals in all but two games during his strong six-game stretch to end 2024. However, once 2025 began, the peak cratered.
Patrick Williams has hit a low after a strong end to 2024
Through Williams' first four contests of the New Year, he's averaged 6.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.0 three-pointers per game. Furthermore, the athletic forward has sunk only 28.6 percent of his three-balls. As for the assertiveness Williams showed at the end of 2024—it's all but vanished. The highest amount of field goals Patrick has attempted in a game in 2025 is seven.
Following Chicago's latest defeat at the hands of the Indiana Pacers, Williams' lows hit a new nadir. In 21 minutes of action, the swingman scored two points, grabbed three rebounds, and turned the ball over twice. Williams failed to record a field goal for the first time since November 2023. His only points came from a 2-of-4 outing from the charity stripe.
After the game, Chicago Sun Times' Joe Cowley put Williams' slow start to 2025 into perspective. Cowley said, "Now it feels like the Bulls and Williams are back to ground zero," referencing the forward's downward spiral leading to his two-point performance against Indiana. However, instead of pointing to Williams' six-game stretch to end December as the high, he mentioned Williams' other stretch of strong performances in November. Prior to going down with a foot injury, the 23-year-old scored in double-digits in six consecutive games and recorded a 10 rebound and nine assist games in separate outings.
Subsequent to the Bulls' 16-point loss, Head Coach Billy Donovan stated that he would not be making a lineup change. Therefore, Williams will remain in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future. The persistence to keep the $90 million forward in the opening unit comes at a time when other teams around the association have assumed differing ideologies.
For instance, amid a 1-7 stretch, the Phoenix Suns sent former All-Star and $50 million guard Bradley Beal to the bench. Furthermore, the Milwaukee Bucks sent 33-year-old Khris Middleton to the bench despite the 6-foot-7 forward holding a starting spot for over a decade. Williams isn't nearly as accomplished or handsomely paid as the previously mentioned wings.
Williams' lack of progress is problematic for the Bulls
Chicago's insistence on keeping Williams in the starting five is undoubtedly on-brand. The Bulls have opposed making changes, notoriously holding onto veterans such as DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic much longer than expected. Aside from being trade-averse, Chicago has remained complacent with its starting five. For one, Williams has started in 201 of 240 possible games since being drafted in 2020.
The former lottery pick's points per game are as follows: 9.2, 9.0, 10.2, 10.0, and 9.7. Like Williams' point production plateauing, his minutes have remained almost identical throughout his five-year career. Williams has never averaged more than 29 or fewer than 24 minutes in any given season. Even with the lack of identifiable progress, the Bulls rewarded Williams with a five-year, $90 million extension in July of last year.
The potential is and has always been, there for the 23-year-old wing. However, his continuous ups and downs have surely caused headaches for the Bulls' Front Office and Coaching Staff. There have even been times when this writer mentioned Williams as Chicago's "most important asset" followed by calling his contract "disastrous" within a month.
Williams has the makings of a solid, all-around contributor. While becoming a star is likely out of the question after four and a half professional seasons, Williams' hypothetical ceiling remains untouched. However, what makes the Williams case so maddening is the hypotheticals. What if he didn't get injured? What if he was more aggressive? What if the Bulls increased his usage rate? Those questions are fine for a rookie, or second-year player, but the Williams problem persists even after five years of being a part of the Bulls' organization.