The trade deadline is less than a month away, and numerous reports of potential deals have come out in the last week or so. According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the Los Angeles Clippers and bench scorer Lou Williams have discussed the possibility of a contract extension.
As a former Sixth Man of the Year winner, Williams’ prolific scoring has been the covet of teams across the league. What it would take for the Clippers to entertain moving Williams is unknown right now.
It could, however, make sense for both sides to have motivations to agree on any extension talks. The career bench scorer is enjoying his best year as a player in a Clipper uniform.
This season, Williams’ career year is coming exactly when the Clippers need it most.
In a Thursday night matchup in the road against the Golden State Warriors, Williams was able to put up a team season-high 50 points. It was the first time he had broken the 50-point threshold.
After the game, when asked about the possibility of being traded from the Clippers, Williams told Sportcenter’s Scott Van Pelt that he wants to continue with his current team.
“Honestly, I would hope not,” Williams said to ESPN. “I’m putting my heart and soul into this basketball team. With the injuries that we’ve had, for us to have still an opportunity to be competitive I would like to find a home here. I’m starting to bond with these guys, so hopefully, this is where I am at the end of the year.”
With injuries to Austin Rivers, Milos Teodosic, and Patrick Beverly – who is out for the remainder of the year – Williams’ scoring is critical to keeping the team’s playoff hopes alive.
The 31-year-old out of Snellville, Georgia is averaging a career-high 22 points per game, 4.9 assists per game, and shooting 41 percent from three this season. His three-point attempts per game have rocketed to a career 7 per game, up from 5.5 last year.
