Mikey Williams had the world in front of him. The San Ysidro guard was the No. 6 combo guard in the country and had already committed to playing for coach Penny Hardaway's Memphis Tigers. However, the five-star recruit threw all of that away and is now facing five counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
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According to the San Diego Sheriff's Department, the California high school basketball star, whose full name is Michael Anthony Williams, was picked up and booked at the San Diego Central jail on those felony gun charges and charges of assault, around 3:30 p.m. on April 13, 2023. According to NBC 7 San Diego, Williams was released on $50,000 bail shortly after midnight on Friday morning. There has been limited information from the San Diego County Sheriff's office released.
As for the social media response, the Instagram account attributed to the No. 26 overall recruit in the Class of 2023 by 247Sports Composite appears to have been deactivated.
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The San Ysidro High School star also received offers from Kansas, Arizona State, Arkansas and LSU, but the Memphis signee opted to play for Head Coach Penny over his NCAA men's basketball career.
Whether or not Williams will play college basketball for the University of Memphis remains unclear. The 18-year-old basketball player signed a letter of intent to play for Memphis basketball, but a court appearance and the subsequent fallout from this incident will certainly impact his Tigers basketball career, and possibly his shot at the NBA.
As for Memphis? They're still gather facts around the incident and have yet to make any statement other than: "We are aware of the situation and are gathering more information."
While this breaking news has certainly rocked the college basketball world, this isn't the first time that a gun charge has hampered a recruit's shot at making it big.
