NBA Star Lou Williams retires after 17 years

Lou Williams, the NBA’S entire-time top reserve scorer and a three-time winner of the 6th Man of the Year awards, announced his retirement from the league on Sunday after 17 seasons.

Lou Williams was the 45th pick in the 2005 NBA draft, He scored a career-high 50 points against the warrior in 2018.

Lou Williams played for six different teams over the course of his career, including the Sixers, Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, and Houston Rockets.  

Lou Williams who made only 122 NBA starts, sets a League record for points by a player coming off the bench with 13,396 points. Lou Williams didn’t win a Championship during his career but he made the playoffs 12 times in 17 seasons.

Lou Williams is a three-time winner of the Sixth Man Award which ties him with Jamal Crawford for the most times winning the honor.

Lou Williams won the sixth-man award while with Toronto Raptors in 2014-15 and with the Clippers in 2017-2018 and 2018-19.

Appearing on Brick by Brick in February, Lou Williams made it clear he wasn’t afraid of retirement whenever he decided to walk away. “Not at all I’m embracing it, I speak so freely about it, because I don’t know when I will retire he said. “ I have the freedom to make that decision, whether it’s this year, next year, or I wanna keep going because I can still play at a high level, it's not lack of talent, I think I am just mentally in a space I am ready to give my energy to something else.

Lou Williams announced in retirement through an Instagram video that was published on Father’s Day.

Lou Williams finished his career with the Atlanta Hawks after being acquired from the Clippers in a March 2021 trade. He seemed to indicate prior to the start of the last season that his time in the league was winding down.