Lou Williams is a somewhat legendary in his role as a player. He came off the bench and scored. He did it so well and so consistently that it earned him Sixth Man of the Year honors three times. His impact was immediate, valuable, and easy to appreciate. It was just hard not to ride for him.
The Bubble. Things were different then. Saying the wrong word on YouTube got you demonetized, protests were breaking out across the country, half the nation seemed to actively want a scourge to win while the other half felt like they were losing their minds … I guess it’s not that different.
But Lou Will had one story in particular that lionized him in a certain way. Now, over various retellings and embellishment, there are those who just straight up believe that Lou Williams fled The NBA Bubble in Orlando to go to a strip club in Atlanta for lemon pepper wings. Just “I’m out. These wings call to me. Let’s go.”
That was not exactly what happened. You can hear Lou himself speak on it here:
The entire relevant quote is provided on HoopsHype: “But I want to put this to bed. I didn’t sneak out of the bubble to go to Magic City. That’s not what happened. They excused me from the bubble to go to a funeral. Doctor is traveling with me. The funeral home was a block away from Magic. I’ve been staying in a hotel, eating hotel room, service food. Magic got good food. This is my hometown and if you know Atlanta, we eat in our strip clubs. That’s where you can find the best food.”
Fair enough. And per what he said the only people in the strip club were in Lou’s immediate party. I wonder if the doctor was there. Regardless, this doesn’t seem all that messy. Dude just wanted some wings. The wings just happened to be at a strip club. That’s life. It’s not my life, but it’s a life.
How does this affect Lou Williams’ legacy?
Part of one’s historic impact can be measured by the amount of myth that surrounds them. The movie The Sandlot said something about this: “Heroes get remembered. Legends never die.
So legends being part of your story is a good thing. And unfortunately, in Lou’s case, he just had to dismiss one. While I appreciate the compulsion to dismiss misinformation, this just makes him more human instead of more, I don’t know, “special.” It’s kind of that weird, foggy feeling of “wow, he’s just so different from everyone else” that often envelops figures like this.
So as it turns out, to better your legacy, you have to establish or strengthen false narratives surrounding you and in turn give up increasingly larger pieces of your humanity. Lou went the opposite route here. He went the route of being a normal, honest, genuine human being. And what’s sad is that in some people’s eyes that will hurt his legacy.
Legacy conversations are stupid. See?