Lou Williams is one of those NBA athletes who got to play on both sides of the rivalry between the Los Angeles franchises, the Lakers and the Clippers.
The former shooting guard revealed that there’s a stark difference between how he gets treated as a former Clippers player vs how he gets treated by the Lakers. Talking about the two teams on his podcast, ‘The Underground Lounge,’ Williams revealed his experience.
“Hey, listen, man, I played for both. I make a phone call to the Clippers right now, [I’ll get] a parking pass, an escort to my seat, accommodated, big screen, the whole thing. I call the Lakers? Them mo******* send me two tickets in my email, no parking pass, they put me in the crowd.” Williams revealed.
He added how he’s achieved a lot with the Lakers, even playing with the Late great Kobe Bryant during his last three years for the gold and purple.
“See, I got about 5000 points over here, the f***?… I might’ve been in 118, row like 19, 20. Legitimate, 20 rows up! I felt kind of crazy. I played for them, and everybody’s looking at me like, ‘The f*** you doing here?’ Ask them!” The former Lakers shooting guard added.
The Lakers have a long history of superstars and former players to accommodate, so granted, there could be a lot of requests to serve, but one of your players who went on to become a storied six-man in the league should be someone you should look after.
Well, apparently, the Lakers have a different perspective on the matter. The former shooting guard tried to turn the situation into something positive, noticing that one only does that when they’re stuck in a bad place.
“You know you’re in the wrong seats, so you try to find all the positives? So I did that. ‘The bathroom’s right there, there’s a bar right there!’ I’m trying to find all the positives.” He recalled.
Williams played 125 games for the legendary franchise and scored a total of 2,106 points. He averaged 16.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game.
Then the Lakers traded him away to the Houston Rockets in 2017, from where he found himself being packaged into a multi-player trade and being traded to the LA Clippers three months later.
Williams played some of his best seasons for the Clippers, averaging 19.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 5.1 assists. He played 261 games for them, scoring a total of 4,975 points.
This difference in impact and involvement might also explain why Williams is treated much differently when he goes to both these places.
It is interesting to note that this isn’t the first time Williams has favored the Clippers over the Lakers; three years ago, he was on record saying he preferred the Clippers, as he was part of the cultural change that that franchise went through, showcasing how deeply he feels about his impact on them.
Last month, he said that he categorically enjoyed playing for them more than he enjoyed playing for the Lakers.
Whereas there is no such sentiment shown for the Lakers by Williams in his previous interviews. A lot of reverence is shown for his former teammate Kobe Bryant, but not so much for the franchise.
The Clippers also have a much younger history than the Lakers, and have not had a lot of superstars through their doors. Thus, whenever someone comes back to watch them, the Clippers make sure they feel seen.
