Without a doubt, Former Philadelphia 76ers guard Lou Williams is one of the best sixth men in the history of the NBA. He's got three NBA Sixth Man of the Year wins to prove it, having bagged the award in 2015, 2018, and 2019. Williams, however, seems to believe that his career would have been likely defined differently if not for an injury and a trade that saw the Sixers acquiring the legendary guard Allen Iverson again in 2009.
Williams said that he was on the rise as a starter for the Sixers during the 2009-10 season when he suffered an injury that caused him to miss games, which also came just before Philly brought AI back.
Lou Williams opens up about Sixers trade for Allen Iverson
“I played with him twice and it’s kind of crazy how our relationships and our careers intertwined because by the time he got traded, I was coming into my own…and I broke my jaw. Antawn Jamison broke my jaw on a loose ball. They said I had to have my jaw wired shut for eight weeks. They called me early on in my recovery process, they was like hey we thinking about bringing AI back, you know to fill that void, what do you think about that?” Williams said during a recent appearance on Podcast P with Paul George presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.
Williams added:
“I was excited about it, I was like hell yeah. Like bring my man back, I was excited to do that. Then once I got healthy again, they called me into the office and was like yeah you’re going to come off the bench, AI’s going to start because we don’t think it would be healthy for him, mentally going forward, coming off the bench so he’s going to be the starter. Obviously that’s AI and I’m cool with him being the starter but it was like damn I was peaking up. S**t, I’ve been coming off the bench ever since that. So how my career ended up getting solidified in the underground and the sixth man and all of these other things, a lot of that part of my history is still tied to AI.”
Nevertheless, no one can deny that Williams was able to make a name for himself as a super weapon off the bench for most of the teams he played for.
Williams, who announced his retirement from basketball last June, played for 1,123 games in the NBA with career averages of 13.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.4 assists.
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