Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group reports:

Last year, forward Reggie Williams spent Christmas in his apartment in Sioux Falls, S.D.

In the morning, he walked through a foot of snow to buy groceries from a Wal-Mart across the street. He and roommate Leemire Goldwire, his teammate in the NBA Development League, cooked and ate Christmas dinner together. By that evening, they were glued to the couch waiting for the tipoff of the Denver-Portland game on ESPN, dreaming about the day they would get their shots in the NBA.

“It seems like just yesterday,” Williams, 24, said. “Now, I’m spending Christmas in California, in beautiful weather and about to play on national TV. My family can watch me play.”

Tonight Williams again will be waiting for the tipoff of a game involving Portland on ESPN (and CSNBA). But this time, he is playing in it. The Warriors host the Trail Blazers in the nightcap of the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day schedule.

This time last year, Williams was an overlooked star in the D-League, watching other D-Leaguers get called up to the big show ahead of him.

“My dream was to play in the NBA,” Williams said. “So for me to play on Christmas Day and on national TV, that’s a pretty big achievement.”

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