Veteran guard Lou Williams contemplated retirement following the trade that sent him from the Clippers to the Hawks on Thursday. As the three-time Sixth Man of the Year winner explained in a post on Instagram, being dealt away by the Clippers – his team for the last four years – hit him hard.
“I thought about retiring yesterday. You give so much to an organization and you wake up and boom, it’s no more,” Williams wrote. “Then in true Clipper nation fashion I was reminded that my talent and contribution was appreciated and it made me reflect on what’s to come. There’s plenty left in my tank and I’m privileged to continue my career in my backyard.”
The Clippers didn’t want to move Williams, but he was the only salary-matching piece that made sense in their deal for Rajon Rondo, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.
The Hawks, incidentally, received high marks on that trade from ESPN’s Kevin Pelton (Insider link). Rondo hadn’t been effective this season and was owed a guaranteed $7.5MM salary for 2021/22, so trading him for Williams’ expiring $8MM deal and multiple second-round picks was an “enormous win” for Atlanta, Pelton argues.
Here’s more on the Hawks:
- Although it’s a win for the Hawks overall, the Rondo trade will cost the team a respected veteran leader in the locker room, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, who says some players were going to the point guard for guidance over former head coach Lloyd Pierce. Kirschner notes that Williams, a 16-year veteran, should help replace Rondo’s leadership.
- With Rondo gone, the Hawks don’t have a clear-cut backup point guard, but general manager Travis Schlenk said today that he thinks Williams can fill that role, with Bogdan Bogdanovic and others also sharing ball-handling responsibilities, per Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Schlenk added that the team will count on Williams to inject more offense into a second unit that has often struggled to score without Trae Young on the floor.
- Atlanta never had any “serious conversations” about a John Collins trade prior to Thursday’s deadline, Schlenk told reporters. “We’ve been steadfast that we view John as a big part of our team, a big part of our franchise,” the Hawks’ GM said, according to Spencer. “Like with all our players, we do our due diligence to see what their value is, but I don’t think that you’ve ever heard myself or anybody else in the Hawks organization say that we don’t place great value on John. We do.”
- Schlenk told reporters today that the plan is for Kris Dunn (ankle) to scrimmage on Monday, and that the guard could make his Hawks debut near the end of the team’s current West Coast road trip, tweets Spencer. That trip concludes on April 2 in New Orleans.
It sounds like Williams was completely blindsided, then he says he was reminded that his talent and contribution was appreciated. Not sure how that constitutes “true Clipper nation fashion.”
I am not sure if you know, but Williams doesn’t make sense very often.
His statement makes sense… kinda… he was bummed, “true” Clippers “fans” had an outpouring of respect, and so his self esteem is redeemed.
… I just didn’t know there were true Clippers fans. I thought they were the local matinee for the Lakers.
I still think Lou Williams is the top 10 bench player in the nba
In today’s nba, offense is 75% and defense is 25%
Look at this
Almost all the players on rookie contracts want to play offense. Offense is money
I thought “Lemon Pepper Lou” liked Atlanta?
He considered it until he realized he’d be giving up millions not to play..
Clips did what they had to do. But getting themselves in a situation where they couldn’t make a trade for a 7,5 mm player without trading a contributor isn’t impressive. Hawks wanted to dump Rondo, and still did well for themselves.
About LWilliams. It seems the same could be said about any player at any time, to decide to retire or keep playing for $.
Im guessing, if ATL thought he really was banking on retiring, they would not have made the trade.
Wtf is “true clipper nation fashion”? Losing in the second round?
A second round elimination is the summit for TCN fashion
What’s the deal with this dude?
I mean talk ’bout a diva?
If I get traded I will retire…SMH!
Does he thinks he is a star or some sort of good player?
Drama queen!
I mean, historically throughout his career, very few were better at what he specialized in. Williams was plenty good. He’s just reaching his twilight as a player, is all.
Lemon Pepper boy contemplated retiring to open up a wings and strip pole establishment.
Request for a buyout and sign with a west team that is a contender, maybe, mavs, lakers, suns?
This was him saying his new team isn’t a real contender without actually saying it
Of course LouW can fill the background PG role Mr.Schlenk. The way he gabs suggests he only blundered into this trade and does not get it all, but it is not likely everything gets disclosed in such releases. (Local paper link)