Elizabeth Williams will return from injury for upcoming Athletes Unlimited season

Elizabeth Williams’ last game was nearly six months ago.

Prior to tearing her meniscus in her right knee against the Mystics on June 6, Williams had never sustained a season-ending injury in her professional career.

Williams’s injury has, of course, forced her to rehab and slowly work her way back to on-court workouts. But that’s about the only way she’s been slowed down. She graduates next week from Arizona State University with her masters in global health. Earlier this month, she was part of a small group of player representatives at a meeting between the WNBA and the players union to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement. On Monday, she provided testimony to the Illinois House of Representatives Revenue & Finance Committee in support of the passing of House Bill 5841, aimed at giving women’s teams the same opportunities as men’s when discussing public funding for stadiums.

While Williams’ impact off the court has become a trademark, her rim protection and notorious shot-blocking will soon be added back to her slate of to-dos when she debuts with Athletes Unlimited in February.

“I’ve gone overseas a long time,” Williams said. “A lot of consecutive seasons. For me [playing for AU came down to] a couple of things. It was important for me to play five-on-five. I also liked that in AU there’s flexibility in how it’s run.”

The first season of Athletes Unlimited basketball was played in Las Vegas in 2022.

The league’s format is highlighted by changing rosters each week and a leaderboard that keeps track of each player’s points. Players earn points when their team wins a game or quarter, when they make a positive play on the court and when they are voted one of the top three MVPs of a game by their peers and fans. Each week the top four players on the leaderboard will serve as captains to draft new teams.

At the end of the season, whoever finishes with the most points is crowned the champion.

Participating in the 2025 season are players already in the WNBA and others who are trying to get back. Aces forward Alysha Clark, Aces guard Sydney Colson, Sparks guard Lexie Brown, Storm guard Jordon Horston and Sky forward Isabelle Harrison are just a few confirmed participants.

“I talked to Izzy about it because she also played AU coming off of an injury,” Williams said. “We had a couple of conversations and it felt like the right way to go about it.”

Harrison provided some added clarity for Williams, telling her she has control over how much she plays. She also confirmed that AU’s training staff is in line with what they experience in the WNBA. Those were important factors for Williams when deciding between AU and returning to play overseas.

AU being the first league that provided WNBA players an alternative to playing overseas was another quality that stood out to her.

“Any time you have those innovative ideas for players and can execute it, that’s a good sign,” Williams said.

This year will be different for AU as they navigate many former star players opting to compete in Breanna Stewart and Nahpeesa Collier’s new 3-on-3 league, Unrivaled. Williams believes having competing leagues is a good thing for women’s basketball.

“Our offseason is unique from other sports in that we have to come up with creative ways to fill that time,” Williams said. “I don’t think it’s an issue. I think it’s a great problem to have.”