Shelden Williams

Shelden DeMar Williams (born October 21, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player.

Nicknamed "The Landlord", he played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils, and later played in the NBA for parts of seven seasons.

Williams played for the Duke University men's basketball team from 2002 to 2006.

He majored in sociology with a markets and management studies certificate.

Williams earned the 2005 and 2006 NABC Defensive Player of the Year Awards while at Duke, becoming only the fifth player in history to earn the award two consecutive years.

He holds Duke's career blocks record, single-season blocks record, and career rebounding record.

During high school, Williams was a member of the National Honor Society and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Williams became only the third Duke basketball player to record a triple-double when Duke defeated Maryland on January 11, 2006, recording 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks.

Williams was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the fifth overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft.

On July 10, 2006, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Hawks.

On November 1, Williams made his NBA debut, recording three rebounds and one block in a 75–88 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

On January 28, 2007, Duke retired Williams' No. 23 jersey.

Williams is the third player in ACC history to have 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 350 blocks and 150 steals (joining Tim Duncan and Ralph Sampson).

His 1,217 rebounds and 1,859 career points rank him seventh in ACC history and sixteenth in Duke history, respectively.

As of graduating from Duke University, Williams held records for:

On April 16, 2007, he logged a season-high 17 rebounds, alongside 16 points, in a 96–102 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

A day later, he scored a season-high 21 points, alongside ten rebounds, in a 118–102 win over the Indiana Pacers.

Williams was named the NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in April.

On February 16, 2008, Williams was traded, alongside Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Lorenzen Wright and a 2008 second-round pick, to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Mike Bibby.

On April 15, Williams logged a season-high 11 rebounds, alongside 12 points and three steals, in a 101–124 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

He averaged 0.7 points per game.

On November 13, 2008, Williams married former University of Tennessee Lady Vols and current Las Vegas Aces basketball star Candace Parker.

They have a daughter named Lailaa.

On February 19, 2009, Williams was traded, alongside Bobby Brown, to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth.

On August 7, 2009, Williams signed a one-year contract with the Boston Celtics.

On July 14, 2010, Williams signed a one-year contract with the Denver Nuggets.

On February 22, 2011, Williams was traded to the New York Knicks in a three-way blockbuster deal also involving Minnesota Timberwolves that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York.

On December 13, 2011, Williams signed with the New Jersey Nets.

On August 28, 2012, Williams signed a one-year contract with the French League champions Élan Chalon.

Over 10 games in the 2012–13 Euroleague season, he averaged 11.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

In October 2013, Williams signed with Tianjin Ronggang of China.

In November 2016, Williams filed for divorce claiming irreconcilable differences.

They had been living separately for 3 months prior to the divorce.

They share joint custody with neither paying child support to the other.

Shelden started the Shelden Williams Foundation in 2019.

The Shelden Williams Foundation is dedicated to empowering student athletes and their families by delivering and supporting initiatives that promote emotional and physical health through sports, education, and community involvement.