Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams tragically lost his wife, Ingrid, in a car accident last week. He had the opportunity to speak today during his wife’s funeral in front of family, friends and a cast of NBA personalities that connected with the Williams’ family in more ways than one.
A large number of the NBA family attended the service including players, coaches and staff. Members of Oklahoma City Thunder organization were there along with Gregg Popovich, Doc Rivers, Alvin Gentry, Kiki Vandeweghe, Jerry Colangelo, Jeff Van Gundy, Tom Thibodeau, David West, Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan and many others from the NBA family who traveled to Oklahoma City to support Coach Williams and his family.
According to the Oklahoman, three of the Williams’ children were injured in the accident, and the driver of the other car died at the scene. Monty Williams shared incredibly powerful and selfless words on Thursday night as you can see in the video above, courtesy of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Williams said the following towards the end of the seven minute clip.
“I want to close with this, and I think it’s the most important thing we need to understand. Everyone is praying for me and my family, which is right, but let us not forget that there were two people in this situation. And that family needs prayer as well, and we have no ill will towards that family. In my house, we have a sign that says, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’
“We cannot serve the Lord if we don’t have a heart of forgiveness. That family didn’t wake up wanting to hurt my wife. Life is hard. It is very hard, and that was tough, but we hold no ill will toward the Donaldson family. And we, as a group, brothers united in unity, should be praying for that family because they grieve as well. So let’s not lose sight of what’s important.”
