It took Lou Williams a few days to head the Hawks’ direction after they made a trade for him at the deadline March 25.
Playing in his 16th NBA season, Williams seriously considered retirement, and said he needed time to make the best decision for himself. But, after talking it over with family and friends, Williams, who played high school basketball at South Gwinnett, chose to join the Hawks.
“It took me a few days to get here because once I arrived, I wanted my energy to be positive,” Williams, 34, said. “I wanted my experience to be positive. I didn’t want the guys to look at me like I didn’t want to be here. It wasn’t personal against the Hawks, I just needed some time to figure out what was best for myself at this stage in my career, but now that I’m here ... I’ve been embraced. The guys, it seems like they want me here. So I’m ready to get back to work. I’m going to make this push and move forward.”
He landed in Phoenix Monday evening, watched the Hawks’ game vs. the Suns Tuesday night and will start preparing to play in Thursday’s game in San Antonio. Williams will wear No. 6 in his second stint with the Hawks (he previously played for Atlanta from 2012-14).
“My motivation is this is my hometown,” Williams said. “This is where I lay my head at night. This is where my career started as a basketball player at South Gwinnett High School. And so anytime I put on a Hawks uniform, I want to further that legacy and I want to be remembered in that light to always do great things. So that’s why I’m here.”
Although Williams made it clear he wants to help the Hawks find success, he was also forthcoming about grappling with being traded away from a team he’d been with for four years. Williams had felt like he was part of what was being built with the Clippers, who are No. 3 in the Western Conference standings.
His former teammate, Patrick Beverley, who alongside Williams began his tenure in LA in 2017, called him upon seeing Williams’ locker had been cleaned out.
“It hurts, just to be candid,” Williams said. “It hurts. I had some very emotional conversations with those guys after that trade, in the entirety as well as (with Beverley). 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 to not make the playoffs and we put that group on our backs and we battled a very talented Golden State team. And when you do something like that, you kind of feel emboldened like you’re part of the culture that’s being created. ... For that to come to an end, and for it to be time to move on, that was emotional for us all.”
In the trade acquiring Williams (with two second-round picks and cash considerations thrown in), the Hawks lost a veteran leader in Rajon Rondo. Rondo was having a rough season on the court, but off the court was known as a brilliant basketball mind who could mentor younger players, handy on a team whose core is still quite young.
Williams may bring something similar, as he wants to impart the lessons he learned with the Clippers to his Hawks teammates. Most of those center on having the confidence to believe you can win at a high level, even if the rest of the world isn’t convinced yet.
“I think with that group in LA, with being kind of a team that was overlooked, people are not saying that you can do X, Y and Z, we put that on our backs and we put a chip on our shoulder and we went out and we competed at a high level,” Williams said. “I think this team is right here on the cusp of turning the corner with so much young talent, guys trying to carve out their legacies in this league. (Trae Young and John Collins), those are going to be the guys that are going to lead this organization to some great moments.
“And just having that arrogance to feel like you can accomplish anything. I want to kind of instill that in those guys, no matter what everybody’s saying, at the end of the day, it comes down to competing hard, carrying yourself as a pro and always giving yourself an opportunity to play at a high level, so I think that’ll be one of the lessons that I’ve learned and something that I will want to give to those guys.”
The Hawks are hoping Williams, who won Sixth Man of the Year three times (twice with the Clippers in 2017-18 and 2018-19 and once with the Raptors in 2014-15), will give them a scoring boost off the bench. This season, Williams averaged 12.1 points, 3.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds (42.1% from the field, 37.8% from 3-point range, 86.6% on free throws), and last season he averaged 18.2 points, 5.6 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 65 games.
He’s still contributing on the court, another factor in holding off retirement. Williams will be a free agent after the season.
“I still feel like I can play at a high level,” Williams said. “And at the same time I feel like I can help this team do some things, and so I don’t want to look back and retire prematurely and ask myself what could have been and what I could have done, and so instead I want to give myself the opportunity to finish out the season with this team and go from there and make a decision in the offseason.”
