Darrion Williams, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound, 22-year-old senior-to-be from Texas Tech who has entered the portal and has Kansas on his list of transfer possibilities, has officially withdrawn from the 2025 NBA Draft.
Additionally, he arrived on KU’s campus Tuesday for a visit, a source close to the situation told The Star.
Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 said Tuesday he believes “two of the leaders” to land Williams in recruiting are KU and North Carolina State. Other analysts have said Williams also has Ohio State, Auburn and BYU on his list of prospective schools.
Williams said last week he has not ruled out a return to Texas Tech. He has not yet provided an official list of schools.
Williams started last week’s NBA Combine in impressive fashion May 13, tying for first place with five other players in a 3-point shooting drill.
Williams, who hit 34% of his 3s at Tech a year ago in averaging 15.1 points a game, went 18-for-25 (72%) in a drill in which players move to various spots behind the arc and launch 3s after receiving a pass. Others to hit 18 of 25 3s at Combine: Max Shulga (VCU), Jamir Watkins (Florida State), Milos Uzan (Houston), John Tonje (Wisconsin) and PJ Haggerty (Memphis).
Williams — he scored 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting (2-of-6 from 3 and 4-of-4 from the line) with nine rebounds and four assists in a 78-73 win over KU on March 1 at Allen Fieldhouse — did not fare as well in the combine 5-on-5 scrimmages.
Playing for Team Domercant, he had zero points on 0-for-5 shooting (0-for-2 from 3) in a 104-80 loss to Team Lazare on Wednesday. In all, he played 26 minutes. He had two points on 1-of-4 shooting (0-for-2 from 3) with seven rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes in Thursday’s 106-90 loss to Team Williams.
The Sacramento, California native, whose wingspan measured 6-foot-6 and standing reach 8-foot-5 at the combine, held individual workouts with his hometown Sacramento Kings on May 6 and the Milwaukee Bucks on May 8.
He told Isaac Trotter of CBS Sports and 247Sports he was only focused on the NBA, not possibly returning to college.
“I decided I wanted to put my full focus into the combine. I’m not even thinking about college. I haven’t been taking any calls, so just focusing on this right now,” Williams said. “I’m going to take it all the way to that deadline, the 28th and I’m going to make the best decision for me.”
Players have until May 28 to withdraw from the draft if they wish to retain college eligibility.
Asked if he was open to returning to college, he said: “I’m open to it, but I wanted to be full in on the draft. I didn’t want to be one foot in one foot out. If I have to go back, I’ll go back, (but) I want to go through the draft (process). It’s my first time doing this.”
A well-rounded player, Williams grabbed 5.5 rebounds and dished 3.6 assists per game in 2024-25. He finished the season scoring in double figures in five straight games, including scoring a season-high 28 points against Drake in the second round of the NCAAs. He scored 23 points against Florida in the Elite Eight. He began his career at Nevada before transferring to Tech.
WreckemRed.com commented on the possibility of his returning to Tech.
“On the surface, it would appear that a return to Lubbock would be unlikely,” wrote reporter Matthew Conner. “Texas Tech has already spent a large sum of money on Washington State transfer LeJuan Watts, who plays the same position and has a game that is almost exactly the same as Williams’ game. Last season, he posted 13.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game. Meanwhile, Williams put up 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. In other words, he and Watts seem almost like interchangeable pieces. What’s more, Watts is younger, meaning he will have multiple years of eligibility remaining at the college level, while Williams will be a senior.”
KU has three scholarships available in recruiting.
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 11:44 AM.