The Clippers and veteran guard Lou Williams have recently engaged in discussions about a possible extension, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). According to Charania, no deal as imminent, with both sides evaluating their positions.
Williams is one of several veteran players around the NBA who will remain eligible for a contract extension all the way up until June 30. However, his ability to cash in would be somewhat limited if he struck a deal with the Clippers before reaching the open market.
NBA rules limit the raise a player can receive in the first year of an extension to 120% of the player’s previous salary or 120% of the estimated average salary. Because Williams is earning just $7MM this season, his max extension would be worth approximately $42MM over four years — that would be the same deal as the ones signed by Josh Richardson of the Heat and Norman Powell of the Raptors in the fall.
Given Williams’ age (31) and career track record, he may not see an offer better than that on the open market, but his stock is certainly on the rise this season. In 39 games for the Clippers, the former second-round pick is averaging a career-best 22.9 PPG to go along with 4.9 APG and a .450/.412/.907 shooting line. He’s coming off a 50-point explosion against the Warriors on Wednesday night.
Should the Clippers decide to become sellers before next month’s trade deadline, Williams would be a tantalizing target for playoff teams in need of scoring help. Still, the Clips themselves are currently only a game out of the No. 8 seed in the West, so it’s not as if they’re throwing in the towel yet. If L.A. keeps Williams and attempts to push for a postseason spot, it will be interesting to see if the two sides continue to discuss an extension into the spring, or if Lou-Will opts to try his luck in free agency.
For what it’s worth, a trade would likely eliminate the possibility of an extension for Williams, since his new team would be limited to offering about $15MM over two years.
They should def re-sign him, lights out professional scorer with no fear. Keep Jordan also and don’t help the Cavs, Lebron is the “GOAT” so let him figure out that mess over there he has more then enough to work with. If he is the leader everyone proclaims him to be he does what Jordan did, rub his competitive nature off on his teammates and makes the Cavs better defensively.
Jordan had Pippen and Rodman
LeBron has Love and Thomas
Nowhere near the same level of talent
Love and Thomas are better scorers then Pippen and Rodman, difference is Jordan rubbed off his competitive drive on Pip and Rod and Lebron can’t do that. If the Cavs win it all this year Thomas will carry the Cavs to the ring, better play maker and better ball handler then Lebron. I personally have the Cavs winning it all but not cause of Lebron because of Isaiah’s play making ability and incredible heart.
And Pippen and Rodman are light years better defensively. And defense wins championships. The Irving/Thomas trade? A big piece of that deal was Crowder and his ability to guard 1-4 and the occasional 5. The Warriors’ dominance? A big reason for that is their “Lineup of Death” with Curry, Thompson, Durant, Iggy, Green where they are basically able to switch everything defensively (with the only obvious mismatch being a Curry switch onto a big).
Also, Thomas is not a better play maker than LeBron. Thomas is craftier and a better ball handler, but LeBron’s play making ability is without a doubt tops in the league. If the Cavs win it all, Thomas will have played a big part but it won’t be that he carried the Cavs to the championship. Thomas’ contributions is limited to the offensive side as he’s a defensive liability. I mean aside from Kyrie’s clutch shots, the only reason the Cavs were even reasonably competitive against the Warriors was because of LeBron’s historic playoff performances. Take LeBron off the Cavs and you really think that Kyrie/Isaiah Thomas and Kevin Love do enough to get the Cavs a Finals win?
And the Clips should not resign Lou Williams. They should trade him and DJ. The ceiling of that team is a first round playoff win/second round playoff exit. They’re not good enough to beat the best teams in the West (Houston, Golden State, San Antonio) in a 7 game series. They’re injury prone and have something like $50m tied to two of the most injury prone players in the league. Why pay the luxury tax for a team that is stuck in limbo, too good for a lottery pick but too bad to actually do anything in the playoffs?
Clips resigned Blake. So they’re in a win now situation. Resign Lou in my opnion. Blake is a top 15 player in the league when healthy in my opnion. Also lebron has had a lot more talent surrounding him for all of his ships than Jordan or if not equal. The cavs bench last year was amazing and the bench for the bulls was never really that adequate. Also because Dennis and Scottie were never scorers that means every night Jordan had to carry the scoring load. Lebron has had dwade bosh isiah kyrie Love- all scorers if nothing else to ease the burden
Lebron is a joke, he doesn’t even like taking responsibility offensively for the Cavs. Nor does he set an example defensively.
“Doesn’t even like taking responsibility offensively.” He is the offense! The team basically falls apart when he isn’t out there. He runs the offense so I don’t see how he “doesn’t like taking responsibility.” The man is averaging 27 points and 9 assists a game. How much more would he need to do to prove that he likes taking responsibility for the offense?
And thats the problem everything has to run through him and other players can’t get in a rhythm. Lebron pounds the ball up top till he gets an opening and kicks it out to a shooter, dude is trash b.
The Clips are in a win-now situation. But they aren’t actually going to win anything significant. Their best case scenario is that they make it to the second round in the playoffs.
And yes, LeBron has had great scorers around him. But only two of them were even average or better defenders at their position (D-Wade and Bosh). Plus, Jordan played with two Hall of Fame players in their prime. And while Pippen only averaged 16 points for his career, he was around 20 PPG in his prime years and during the Bulls dynasty. Pretty good numbers considering he’s clearly playing 2nd fiddle to MJ. D-Wade is a HoF player but the next closest players would be Bosh (who probably doesn’t have the longevity of a career and the accumulation of stats to get him in) and Kyrie (who is too early into his career to say whether or not he will get in).
Ha love is not better scorer than pippen and Thompson averages 2ppg more than rodman
Rodman is such a bad example. Pippen was way better then anyone LeBron has played with. DWade is close to Pippen but not close the complete player Scotty was. Plus Scotty was the perfect compliment to MJ. He would guard 1-4 and most games actually guarded the best player on the court. Guarded Magic, Isiah Thomas and Bird consistently. LeBron has never had that kinda complimentary player. Wade wasn’t a perfect compliment even in his prime.