The current version of the Los Angeles Clippers — the one that's a championship contender with two superstars — would not be where it is today without Lou Williams. And while the 16-year veteran has moved on to the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles and the Clippers will always hold a special place in his heart.
Williams was traded to the Hawks in a trade deadline day deal sending Rajon Rondo to the Clippers. The trade has been official for about six days now, but Williams has yet to make his debut for Atlanta.
“It took me a few days to get here because once I arrived, I wanted my energy to be positive,” Williams explained in his first media availability as a member of the Hawks. “I wanted my experience to be positive. I didn’t want the guys to look at it like I didn’t want to be here. It wasn’t personal against the Hawks. I just needed time to figure out what was best for myself at this stage of my career, but now I’m here and I’ve been embraced. Seems as though guys want me here, so I’m ready to get back to work, and make this push.”
Over the last calendar year, Lou Williams' name had been thrown around in trade talks. Often times, it made sense. Williams was on a very team-friendly deal, playing high-level basketball, and was a locker room leader. Every single time a fan would comment about him getting traded, however, he'd respond by saying the Clippers were his last stop before retirement.
After taking in the trade and mulling his decision over the last few days, the three-time Sixth Man of the Year elected to join the Hawks and forgo any talks of his retirement.
“[I thought about retirement] very seriously,” Williams said. “When you get into a situation at this stage in your career, you’re playing with a team that was my fourth year, I had a lot invested there. We had some success, we were gearing up for another deep playoff run, a championship run. That was our mentality and I thought I would finish the season there.
“In the later stages of your career, you don’t know when it's the end, so once you get traded, you just weigh all your options. I’m in a position where I can kind of have a say in my destiny, have a say in what I would like to do at this point in my career, and so in speaking with my family, speaking with friends that support me, the overwhelming support that I got from the Atlanta community and people excited for me to be a part of this organization, it kind of gave me some life to continue on, but it was a very serious thought.”
When Lou Williams arrived to Los Angeles in the summer of 2017, he'd just been traded for the second time in four months. With no interest in being a journeyman thrown in trade talks to close out his career, Williams was seriously ready to call it quits and retire. Then-head coach Doc Rivers was able to talk Williams off the ledge and convinced him that they could make Los Angeles home together, proceeded to bring out the best years of his career in Years 13, 14, and 15 of his NBA career.
Lou Williams led the Clippers in scoring during the 2018 and 2019 seasons en route to back-to-back Sixth Man of the Years. Clippers fans fell in love with him and the rest of the 2019 team after they took the Kevin Durant-led Golden State Warriors to six games in the first round despite having no All-Stars and, really, no business even being in that series.
Many pundits projected the Clippers would fail to make the playoffs that year, and especially so once they traded away Tobias Harris in the middle of the season. As leaders of the team, Lou Williams and Patrick Beverley got their team locked in and it resulted in an impressive run akin to the We Believe Warriors of 2007.
Williams says the bond he developed with Beverley and his teammates over the years made the departure that much harder.
“It hurts,” Williams said with a slight shrug. “Just to be candid, it hurts. I had some very emotional conversations with those guys after that trade in the entirety, as well as Pat. Pat called me the other day a little emotional that my locker was empty. Pat and I were the longest-tenured guys on that group, we were there four years. We were on the team that they expected us not to make the playoffs and we put that group on our backs and we battled a very talented Golden State team.
“When you do something like that, you kind of feel emboldened, like you’re part of the culture that’s been created. I think we put a lot of things in place there that will carry on with a lot of the young guys that they brought in from Shai to Terance to Zubac. Those are guys that we put a lot of heart and just a lot of courage and confidence in those guys into how they should carry themselves as pros and we took a lot of pride in that, so for them to come in and for it to be time to move on, that was emotional for us all.”
Williams averaged 19.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists per game across his three and a half years with the Clippers. He had career highs in categories across the board. He won a pair of Sixth Man of the Year trophies. He became the all-time leader in scoring off the bench.
Even though the LA life is over for Williams, Los Angeles and Clippers Nation will always be place he can call home.
“It was a great experience,” Williams said. “I’m grateful for having the opportunity to be there, having the opportunity to have success, have great teammates, work with several groups of guys. LA will be somewhere I call home. I was embraced there. The staff was amazing to me at a time when I didn’t know which direction my career would go in. I was embraced, I was comfortable. I felt like I was a part of what was being built, so I’m grateful for that, for that experience. Looking back on it, I have nothing but positive things to remember.”
Likewise, Clippers fans have nothing but positive memories with Williams, who helped bridged the transition between Lob City to the current team beautifully.
Lou Williams has his best years with the LA Clippers, giving fans a number of memorable moments.
• 19.1 points
• 2.7 rebounds
• 5.1 assists
• 2x Sixth Man of the Year
• Became leading bench scorer in NBA historyHere are his biggest clutch moments with LA: pic.twitter.com/EUalQhE5QW
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 25, 2021
Lou Williams will be missed.
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