According to a report from Shams Charania of The Vertical, James Harden was instrumental in Houston’s acquisition of Lou Williams. A former Sixth Man award recipient, Williams was enjoying a productive season with the Lakers- averaging a career-best 18.6 points on 44.4% shooting over 58 games. Two weeks before the deadline, Harden made his pitch to Williams.
“When James called, he asked me if I was interested in playing with them,” Williams told Charania. “I told him that I loved the Lakers, but James and them have a group that fit my personality, fit how I play. He said he was going to make it happen. I’ve heard that before, so I didn’t really put stock into it. I guess James did put the word in, and the team made it happen.”
The task of trading for Williams was a challenging one, Charania notes, due to the ongoing transition period in the Lakers’ front office. The deal was eventually completed, with Lou heading to Houston in exchange for Corey Brewer and the projected 27th overall draft pick. Williams, who has given the Rockets “some punch off the bench,” has earned the praise of coach Mike D’Antoni.
“We needed one more guy that could create, and Lou is perfect,” D’Antoni told The Vertical. “Lou is a professional scorer. In case someone is off, if someone is injured, Lou brings another 15 to 20 points. We still need to incorporate everything. You can never have enough shooters and playmakers, and he does both.”
Showing no signs of slowing down in his age-30 season, Williams compared himself to Jamal Crawford of the Clippers. Crawford, 37, has remained a featured member of Doc Rivers‘ rotation in his 17th season.
“Until the wheels fall off for us,” Williams said. “I already have 12 [seasons] in the can. Forty for me probably would be a little farfetched, because of being in my 12th season, being 30. Forty would be, what, 22 seasons? I don’t know if I got 22 seasons in me, but God willing, I’ll get close.”
Wouldn’t Harden calling Lou Williams mid-season about his interest in playing for the Rockets technically be considered tampering? I’d imagine that at the least, the league would look down on that type of conversation. I know players do tons of midseason “selling” to pending free agents but they do it with the intention of trying to build a case for the pending free agent to join a specific team at the end of the year, not necessarily pushing his team to acquire him midseason.
I can see that point.
I think realistically, the Lakers were looking to get rid of Lou and Harden got wind of it, and wanted to see if he would like to team up. When Lou said yes, he probably went to the GM and made his case to trade for him
Since Lou Willams has got traded to the rockets. Their bench have been lethal scoreing the basketball.
The NBA has expressly stated that players are exempt from tampering rules. So Silver would have to go against that precedent.