With the Portland Trail Blazers missing out on the play-in, fans now have no choice but to root for former Blazers players who remain in the playoffs. The obvious one is Damian Lillard, but there are a few under-the-radar names as well, one of which is Dallas Mavericks guard Brandon Williams.

Dallas defeated the Sacramento Kings 120-106 to keep their playoff chances alive. Their next game comes against the Memphis Grizzlies, with the winner set to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had a historically great regular season. But there wasn’t even certainty that Dallas, despite their surprising win-now trade for Anthony Davis at the deadline, would make it past Sacramento.

Not only were they on the road, but Dallas was also playing without Kyrie Irving. The one advantage they did have over the Kings was their size, with a lengthy, defensive-minded frontcourt that gave Domantas Sabonis matchup problems throughout the night, limiting him to just 11 points.

Looking at the matchup, the Kings would have to overcome that disadvantage with their backcourt play. The Mavericks didn’t even begin the game with a traditional point guard in their starting lineup, relying on Klay Thompson as the only guard. That raised concerns about how the Mavericks would generate offense without playmakers, but they found that from an unexpected source in Williams.

Williams finished with 17 points, five assists, and zero turnovers, shooting 5-of-8 from the field, 3-of-4 from three, and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. That resulted in a +24 plus/minus on the game.

The Blazers gave up on Brandon Williams too soon

It’s hard not to watch this game from a Blazers standpoint and feel a sense of regret that Williams isn’t doing this in Portland. He went undrafted out of the University of Arizona in 2020, later going on to sign a two-way deal with the Blazers.

That 2021-22 season, Williams averaged 12.9 points, 3.9 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.0 steals on 26.7 minutes in 24 games. Those are promising numbers for a rookie, especially one who went undrafted.

However, the concern surrounding Williams was that he was an undersized guard at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds. On top of that, he was extremely inefficient, shooting 37.2 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from three. That led the Blazers to decide to waive Williams after just one season.

Fast forward two seasons, and Williams is proving Portland wrong for giving up on him too soon. He’s been a steady rock for the Mavericks all season, drastically improving his efficiency with 52/40/83 shooting splits while emerging as a reliable playmaker.

Now, Williams has also shown that he’s capable of showing up in big moments, becoming the game’s X-Factor when Dallas needed him the most.