How Perry basketball’s Cody Williams, brother Jalen learned to give back
After every Gilbert Perry High School basketball game, before talking to reporters. senior Cody Williams takes time for the kids.
They gravitate towards him, all wanting to have their pictures taken with the towering 6-foot-8 McDonald’s AllAmerican guard.
Kid after kid, photo after photo, Williams is there, smiling, making them feel good.
“We always give him a hard time because he’s late to the locker room,” coach Sam Duane Jr., said. “I call him ‘Hollywood.’
“But he takes time for little kids. That’s important for him. But that’s also important for Perry. He represents Perry so well.”
Williams, who in the last month has been collecting big national honors, making three prestigious All-American teams, was taught to take time for kids from his mother, Nicole, a nurse practitioner, who had both Cody and older brother Jalen, now an NBA rookie taking off with the Oklahoma City Thunder, around her to help those in need.
“I’ve always been helping out my mom,” Cody said. “We’d go to the (homeless) shelters. Help bag stuff and do food drives. It’s kind of been in my nature to help people whenever they need it.”
It’s not something the Williams family broadcasts or boast about on social media. They don’t do this to get a reaction from the masses.
When ESPN wanted to feature Jalen Williams before the NBA draft on how he gives back, the family was asked for photos showing him doing that. They didn’t have any.
“It’s when people aren’t even looking,” Nicole said. “It’s not for the cameras.
“For Jalen and ESPN, from the draft, they were asking, because he does a lot of volunteer work, he and Cody, they were asking if we had pictures of anything that they can post. I said, ‘You know what, we don’t have pictures.’ It’s because we don’t take pictures on purpose.
“This is something you should be doing, regardless of whether anybody else knows about it. And I love it. If someone admires you, looks up to you... You know, a lot of people are just hanging on by a thread. Sometimes, you might be that thread holding them together. So be that thread.”
It was important that the family got Cody to Footprint Center after last Friday night’s 64-50 win over Scottsdale Desert Mountain that put No. 1 Perry (29-1) into Saturday’s first Open Division state basketball championship game Saturday at 5:30 p.m., against No. 10 Phoenix Sunnyslope.
The Suns had a later start due to the TV schedule, and with Jalen playing them for the Thunder, they were able to get to the game near the end of the third quarter. After Jalen left the locker room, the first person he saw was Cody.
The brothers are proud of each other. Cody has had a brilliant season, living up to his top-10 ranking in the 2023 class in national recruiting services, scoring, rebounding, blocking shots, defending and changing the game. He’s a 6-8 point guard for one of the most dominant high school basketball teams Arizona has seen in a while with 6-8 sophomore 5-star Koa Peat a perfect complement.
Jalen, who didn’t get the recruiting that Cody got in his school, found his path to the NBA through a great college career at Santa Clara, a strong, physical
6-5 guard, who got better each year, before ascending into the first round of the draft last year. Jalen has worked his way into the Thunder’s starting lineup, averaging 12.8 points, making 51% of his shots, and 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists.
“I know how hard it is the first time in the league, going from almost 40 games in college to 82 regular season (NBA games),” Cody said. “The fact that he hasn’t really hit a wall, and kept going up, it’s just incredible.”
Cody will do anything to see his brother play in his first NBA season. He learned his work ethic from his big brother, following him to the gym, seeing how much time he put in. Cody simply followed the blueprint Jalen left.
“He tried to figure out way to see Jalen, get on a plane and come back for his games,” Nicole said. “It’s not good for him to do physically. But it was important for us to make it (last Friday to the Suns’ arena). We made it to the end of the third quarter. Even if we made it to the end of the game, it wouldn’t have mattered. We wanted to see Jalen. And Cody and Jalen need to see each other.
“There was a ton of people there supporting (Jalen) and there after the game to see him. You have to wait for them to come out of the locker room, press conferences and all of that stuff. There was a bunch of people waiting to see Jalen after that Suns game. He comes out and he goes to Cody. They start talking and I have to tell Jalen, ‘There are other
people here to see you.’ “
A family of athletes
The Williams brothers got their basketball skills from their parents, Ron and Nicole, who met playing basketball in the Air Force Academy. Ron is 6-6, so everybody figured Jalen and Cody would get big. But Cody went from about 6 feet as a freshman at Perry to 6-8 now. Jalen left Perry at about 6-3, and grew a couple of more inches in college.
“When (Cody) came in as a freshman, we had him go play with our freshmen in our summer league,” Duane said. “I’d go watch those summer league games, and I’d think, ‘This isn’t going to challenge him.’ I could just see how he saw the floor, have that feel. I said, ‘This kid is going to be really good.’ We brought him up that summer to Section 7 (playing against the top high school teams in the West) and he scored 15 against Torrey Pines (Calif.). And I’m like, ‘He’s not going back, he’s with us.’ “
A mock 2024 NBA draft has Cody Williams going as the No. 2 overall pick. He saw that. But, never getting ahead of himself, he just wants to get to Colorado first and play next season for the Buffaloes and see how things go.
“When I saw the mock draft, it was definitely an honor that they put me up there and recognized my talent,” Cody said. “But at the same time, I know I haven’t even finished my high school season yet. I still have a lot of work to do. That’s like two years away.”
If he ever needs to stay grounded, his mom and dad will remind him. Nicole will show him. And everything circles back to perspective on what’s most important in life. And Cody will be there on the court with the kids, letting them take pictures of him.
“We raised them to serve,” Nicole said. “We’re here to serve. We are Christians. We’re not perfect Christians. But we are Christians. Our job is to serve. You don’t have to have money to do that. The most valuable thing you can give someone is your time. Let them be heard, make them feel special. That’s pretty much what everyone needs.
“Other than basketball, I’m proud of what they’re becoming. It’s phenomenal to see that. That’s what you want as a parent. You want your kids to be good people. You want them to be successful, but you want them to be good people along the way.”