Nets' Williams Plans Autism-Friendly Game

NEW YORK  — D.J. Williams' biggest issue with NBA games is he'd rather be playing with dad than watching him.

"He wants me the whole game, so he just wants to get out on the court," said his father, Brooklyn Nets guard Deron Williams.For many more autistic children, there are other challenges at the arena.

Nets' Guard Blindsided by Son's Diagnosis

Brooklyn Nets Deron Williams with
his son Deron Jr. aka DJ, 3, and
wife Amy at a celebration at
Brooklyn Borough Hall.

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Sitting at a SoHo restaurant, expressing a mood seemingly solar systems removed from the Nets’ struggles on the court, Deron Williams is smiling while covered with orange face paint — “festive colors,” he calls it. A little girl comes up to Williams decorated like a tiger. He growls, prompting the child to growl back more ferociously.
Some other kids are opening gifts donated by Williams, with basketballs and X-Box games among the favorites. Every year the star point guard and his wife, Amy, put together this kind of charitable holiday party with their Point of Hope Foundation.
But on Saturday the theme is different: autism awareness. The inspiration is 3-year-old D.J. Williams, the energetic young boy walking around the restaurant with a pretzel stick and a toy.