Billy Knight (basketball, born 1979)


William Price Knight was an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. His last professional stops were in Japan with Hamamatsu, Osaka, Hyogo and Yamagata.

Early life

He attended high school at Westchester High in Los Angeles. As a sophomore, he was a reserve at center when Knight's father decided that his son's chances for an athletic scholarship to college rested on his jump-shooting skills. Knight was already tall, so his father set up dummies in their backyard court that he would be forced to shoot over. As a senior, he had developed into one of the top jump shooters nationally and committed to play college basketball for the UCLA Bruins.

Professional career

Knight helped the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix to their first bj league title in 2009–2010, when he was the league's third-leading scorer, averaging 19.6 points per game. He and teammate Wendell White formed a duo dubbed the "White-Knight Show". In 2012–13, he helped lead the Hyogo Storks to their first Japan Basketball League championship.

Criminal allegations and death

On June 13, 2018, Knight was arrested on six counts of molestation charges, including two counts of sexual conduct with a minor.
He committed suicide through multiple blunt force injuries on July 8 in Phoenix, shortly after posting a video to YouTube talking about his mental illness and encouraged others to seek help.

Career statistics

Professional

Regular season

Playoffs

College

! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career
!117 ||51 || 29.0 ||.456 ||.403 ||.774 || 2.2 ||0.7 || 0.7 ||0.1 || 8.0