tour without telling anybody.”
He went to L.A. to do the press con-
ference but really didn’t want to be there
(“You can look at my face—I’m holding
the jersey like, let’s get this over with”).
He planned to leave immediately and was
en route to the airport when his phone
rang. It was Clippers head coach Doc Riv-
ers, insisting that they meet right away.
The message Doc had for Williams
was simple and clear: I don’t know what
those other front offices were thinking,
but you can get comfortable here. This
is going to be home. It was exactly what
Lou, who signed a three-year extension in
February of 2018, needed to hear.
He’s enjoyed the top two seasons of his
career with the Clippers, claiming back-
to-back Sixth Man of the Year trophies.
Despite not having an All-Star on their
roster—although many would argue Lou’s
been more than deserving—the team has
thrived, primarily because they all get
along and love going to battle together.
Though he’ll be turning 33 in October,
Williams feels like he’s right in his prime.
He recently came across a list of “The
Top 10 Old Guys in the NBA” and was
startled to see his name at No. 2, just
after LeBron James.
“I was like, Damn, I’m considered one of
the old guys.”A
SK THOSE CLOSE to him
for their most legendary Lou
Williams story and you get a
wide range of responses.
“Most legendary Lou Will
story? I don’t know—the off-
the-court ones might not be the ones that
could go in [the story],” jokes Jarrett Jack.
There was the time he took Jordan
Clarkson to a Waffle House in Atlanta
and shut the joint down. They had the
whole restaurant to themselves.
Or when he faced off against Mike
Scott’s squad in the AEBL—Atlanta’s Pro-
Am league—and made a dude fall on his
way to another 50-point performance.
Or when he hosted a summer camp
in Philly in 2012 even though he knew he
wasn’t returning to the 76ers. Rather than
cancel and begin his move to Atlanta, Lou
stayed an extra month to put on the event.
Piece together all of these anecdotes
and you start to get a complete picture
of Williams.
On a peaceful Thursday afternoon,
he relaxes on the edge of his pool. With
the built-in stretch of sand and the mini
palm plants, the setting resembles
a Florida beach resort more than abackyard in Georgia. It’s quiet now, but
there were over 700 people here not too
long ago. Remnants of the annual MDW
party (Meek, Iverson, Rick Ross, French
Montana and James Harden are among
the guests who’ve come through) aren’t
hard to find. Garbage cans are packed to
the brim. An outdoor seat cushion has
been ripped up. The cabana has several
“RESERVED” labels on it.
Lou is fresh off an incredible sea-
son—perhaps his best—but he’ll tell you
straight up: He doesn’t care how the over-
all basketball world remembers him. All
RIGHT: ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGESthat matters is that he has the respect of
his peers. That much is undeniable.
“You look at rap, you have your Jay-Zs,
you have your Lil Waynes and all of those
guys,” Lou says. “And then you have the
guys that Lil Wayne and Jay-Z appreciate,
like Bun B and Pimp C. Underground Kingz.
“So in basketball you have your
GOATS. You’ve got Michael Jordan. You’re
going to have LeBron, you’re going to
have Kobe, you’re going to have KD. And
then you got guys like me who are from
the underground, who are the underap-
preciated, the underdogs.
“I feel like I’m the Underground GOAT.
I’m the underground greatest of all time.” S38 SLAMONLINE.COM