For the first seven years of his NBA career, Lou Williams was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. Since then, Williams has bounced around a ton, playing for five different teams since the start of the 2012-13 campaign. He’s gotten buckets everywhere he’s gone, but he just hasn’t been able to stick in one place for too terribly long since leaving Philly.
So it was really cool to see that the Los Angeles Clippers decided to make an investment in Williams, giving the veteran guard a three-year contract extension worth $24 millions. At $8 million annually, it is the most that Williams will make in a year in his NBA career.
It was understandably a big deal for Williams, but not necessarily because he’s in for a big payday. As he told the press, Williams said that it “was nice for one to go my way and be somewhere I wanted to be.”
Lou Williams on 3-year extension with Clippers: “It was nice
for this organization to commit to me the same way I’ve committed to these guys this year. In years past, these scenarios don’t usually go my way. So it was nice for one to go my way and be somewhere I wanted to be.”— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) February 7, 2018
Additionally, Bobby Marks of ESPN spoke to someone close to Williams who gave some more insight into agreeing to a deal in Los Angeles. Basically, Williams was tired of being a free agent and just wanted to have one place he could call home.
Talked to someone close to Lou Williams. At the end of the day he loved playing for the Clippers and didn't want to go thru the hassle of FA and moving even if it meant a little bit more of pay increase. 4 teams in 4 years will do that.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 7, 2018
Williams has put up career highs in scoring (23.3 points per game) and assists (5.3 a night) in Los Angeles, so it’s not a surprise he wants to stick around. As we learned here, though, the sense of being settled in one place might have been the most appealing thing of all.
