Report: Lou Williams agrees to a 3-year extension with the Los Angeles Clippers
After reports of Lou Williams engaging in contract extension talks with the Clippers came out last night, the guard finalized an extension with the team today.
Lou Williams appears to be off the trading block, as Shams Charania of The Vertical has reported his agreement to a three-year contract extension with the Clippers.
Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams has agreed to a three-year contract extension, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 7, 2018
Per CBA rules on the extension, Williams cannot be traded for six months.
Max value: $30,349,728
— Dan Feldman (@DanFeldmanNBA) February 7, 2018
Lou Williams can't be traded for six months https://t.co/q4gXMlsh5d
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski added to the report that the third year of the deal does feature a team option.
Lou Williams' new three-year deal with the Clippers will include a team option on the third year, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 7, 2018
Sources: Clippers’ Lou Williams signed a three-year, $24 million extension, with $1.5M partial guarantee in year three. With this season included: four years, $31M. https://t.co/aWWHnAluQV
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 7, 2018
Williams is very deserving of this extension due to the performances he has had for the Clippers this season. He is averaging 23.3 points and 5.3 assists per game, and shooting 38-percent from deep in his first year with the Clippers. His strong performances garnered interest from teams throughout the league, including the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Williams is the team’s leading scorer this season, even edging out Blake Griffin when he was still in town. His new scoring partnership will be formed with Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari (when he’s healthy).
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The contract extension negotiations had been going on for a month and picked up steam in the last week according to Charania. The Clippers were interested in keeping Williams long term due to his increased performance when the team asked him to be the focal point of the offense while many players were sidelined with injuries.
The Clippers will continue to pursue trades for Avery Bradley and DeAndre Jordan as they look to clear cap space to pursue big name free agents this summer. What looked like an impending rebuild has quickly been pivoted to something else entirely. The Clippers do not intend on bottoming out and hitting the NBA Draft Lottery.