Lou Williams recently opened up about his shocking trade from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Atlanta Hawks in 2021, revealing that the move blindsided him despite being reassured by team president Lawrence Frank that he wouldn’t be dealt.
Speaking on the Underground Lounge podcast, Williams detailed how he was misled by Frank just minutes before the trade deadline, only to be sent to his hometown of Atlanta in a last-minute deal.
“Everybody’s a millionaire; they expect you to carry yourself as such. So if you get traded, by all means, we need to get you to Charlotte immediately. Yeah, you’re part of their entourage now, so let’s get you with the guys.”
“I’ll tell you, the last time I got traded, somebody told me I wasn’t going to get traded—L. Frank said it. L. Frank said it. He and I had some tension, so it was like an elephant in the room whether I was going to get traded or not because we just weren’t seeing eye to eye. The trade deadline was at three o’clock.”
“So at like two o’clock, L. said, ‘Yo, you can relax, man. We ain’t gonna trade you. Take your nap,’ because we had a game that night. He was like, ‘Take your nap, whatever—you’re good.’ I hang up the phone with L.”
“Ten minutes later, my phone starts vibrating—1:11. My agent calls me and says, ‘Hey, don’t trust him. They’re doing something. Stay close to your phone.’ I was traded by 2:30. I was traded by 2:30 in San Antonio. And the wildest part about it, though—my agent calls me back and says—because they were trying to find a jet for me to get to the Hawks—but I was threatening to retire.”
“I’m like, ‘Yo, if you trade me, I’m gonna retire. So I’m gonna f**k up whatever deal you got going on. I’m gonna f**k the deal up because I’m just gonna retire.”
“But L was smart. That motherf**ker traded me to my hometown. He traded me to ATL. Like, ‘His ass, he gonna go there.’ So they were trying to scramble up a jet for me to meet the Hawks where they were.”
“I think they were in Sacramento at the time, and I was in San Antonio. They were scrambling for a jet, and my agent called me and said, ‘Hey, crazy question. You can answer however you want.’ I said, ‘What’s up?’ He said, ‘Are you comfortable with flying back to LA with the Clippers, and we figure it out from there?’
“And I said, ‘Well, is L. Frank on the trip?’ He said, ‘No, he’s not on the trip.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll fly back with the homies.'”
“So the day I got traded, the Clippers went and played a game against San Antonio. They sent a car service for me at the hotel, and I met them at the plane and flew back to LA with them. And I was no longer a part of the team.”
The trade officially went through on March 25, 2021, sending Williams and two second-round picks to Atlanta for Rajon Rondo. The Clippers had acquired Rondo in hopes of bolstering their playmaking, while the Hawks welcomed back a scoring punch off the bench.
Despite his initial reluctance, Williams ended up playing an important role for the Hawks. In 24 regular-season games with Atlanta, he averaged 10.0 points, 2.1 assists, and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 39.9% from the field and 44.4% from three. More importantly, he provided veteran leadership as the Hawks made an unexpected run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the playoffs, he had a particularly memorable moment in Game 4 of the East Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks, when he stepped up in place of an injured Trae Young, dropping 21 points, eight assists, and five rebounds to lead the Hawks to victory.
Although the trade initially felt like a betrayal, it ultimately gave Williams a chance to finish his career playing for his hometown team. He signed another contract with the Hawks in August 2021, playing one final season before stepping away from the game. Looking back, while the Clippers blindsided him, the move may have been a blessing in disguise.
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