Bulls forward honored by his high school in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE – There will be a few homecomings in the NBA career for the Bulls’ 2020 first round draft pick, but this trip to North Carolina was particularly special.

That’s because forward Patrick Williams received an honor from one of the places where he started his journey to professional basketball as he returned to his hometown of Charlotte to face the Hornets.

West Charlotte High School retired his No. 4 on Wednesday in a ceremony before the Bulls took the floor at the Spectrum Center. It took place in the gym where Williams first made a name for himself in basketball as a star for the Lions.

He played on the varsity all four years of his time at West Charlotte, averaging 16.7 points, seven rebounds, 2.9 assists in 107 career games. That included a senior year in 2018-2019 where he averaged 22.1 points and nine rebounds per game as he led the Lions to the NCHSAA Class 4A state championship game.

For his efforts, Williams was named Mecklenburg County Player of the Year by the Charlotte Observer.

With plenty of interest from around the country, Williams picked Florida State as his place to play in college. He stayed one season before entering the NBA Draft, where he was taken by the Bulls with the fourth overall pick in 2020, the first in the Arturas Karnisovas/Marc Eversley era.

In his third season with the Bulls, Williams has started 47 of the 48 games he’s played in 2022-2023, averaging 10.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in 29.2 minutes. Overall, Williams is averaging 9.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in 136 games in two-and-a-half seasons in Chicago, with 127 of those being starts.

Larry Hawley has more on Williams in this edition of the “Random Hawlight” on WGN News Now, which you can watch in the video above.