His playing career has spanned three decades, but TNT’s Kelly Williams is still going strong and targeting more accolades.
When TNT Tropang 5G veteran Kelly Williams won his first PBA championship, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was president, Manny Pacquiao was training for his rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez, and 2025 top overall pick Geo Chiu was about to turn seven years old.
That championship in question, the 2008 Philippine Cup won by the Sta. Lucia Realtors, is still one of the most epic Philippine Cup finals in league history. That year, Williams was named MVP, just a season after winning Rookie of the Year. He still remember it like it was yesterday.
“I was more offensively utilized,” Williams told The GAME shortly after the official press conference launching the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup Finals between the Tropang 5G and the San Miguel Beermen. “I had the ball in my hands 80% of the time, and I was a lot younger, a lot faster, a lot stronger.”
Eighteen years and nine more championships later, Kelly Williams is once again in the Philippine Cup Finals, aiming for his sixth Philippine Cup title and 11th overall. Although he’s no longer putting up MVP-type numbers, he’s still a valuable part of Chot Reyes’ rotation, averaging around 8 points and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
“My role in general has changed where I’m more trying to cultivate the younger guys and acclimate them to what’s expected of us as players, as professionals, specifically within the system of Coach Chot because we’ve won several championships together and I’m familiar with the type of culture and atmosphere that he has been cultivating.”
The roles may have changed and the statistics may have dipped, but the goal remains the same for Williams.
“It’s always an honor and a privilege to be part of championship-caliber teams, to have another opportunity to play in the finals,” said the veteran big man, who is appearing in his 18th PBA finals. “Like Coach Chot said earlier, it’s a blessing in itself. But right now, all we’re thinking of is Game 1 and what we need to do going into this series.”
Williams is doing all this just a few weeks shy of his 44th birthday. He’s currently the oldest active player in the league, and should the Tropang 5G win it all, he would reset his record as the second-oldest player ever to win a PBA title (he was 43 years and one month when TNT won the Governors’ Cup last year.)
The record for oldest active player to win a title is held, of course, by Robert Jaworski, who was 51 years and nine months when he won the 1997 Governors’ Cup at playing coach of Gordon’s Gin.
Does Kelly Williams have any plans of chasing that record?
“No, no,” he replied with a laugh. “All my contract negotiations are one year at a time because I’m just leaving room for God to do what he does and my plans aren’t really much. So I’m just showing up every day and doing what’s given to me. I’ve tried to quit.
“I’ve tried to retire. And for some reason, God keeps putting me here. So He has a purpose and I’m just here to try to do His will the best way that I possibly can and steward what He’s given me and we’ll let the future take care of itself.”
An 11th championship for TNT would also put Kelly Williams in a tie with Cris Bolado, Rafi Reavis and finals adversaries Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter, and June Mar Fajardo. He’s fully aware of the magnitude of his situation, and he wants to be more than just a token player on a championship team.
“I think just for me as a player, I just always want to try to be in the best shape as I possibly can. And I’m grateful to God for I’ll be 44 next month and to be able to play at a level that is respectable for myself, to honor God in that way is a blessing in itself.”
Banner images from PBA Media Bureau