Lou Williams has had a phenomenal season.
In fact, it's pretty clearly been the best season of his career. He's averaging 23.3 points and 5.3 assists per game -- each of which would be career-highs -- and shooting 38 percent from 3. He came up just short of making his first All-Star Game, but looks like the favorite to take home the Sixth Man of the Year Award for the second time in his career.
But because of how well he's been playing, it seemed likely his time with the Clippers would come to an end at the trade deadline -- especially after the team recently traded Blake Griffin. However, as first reported by Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, Williams is signing a three-year contract extension with the Clippers that will reportedly pay the high-scoring guard $31 million over the next four seasons, including this year. The third year of the extension is reportedly partially guaranteed.
Sources: Clippers’ Lou Williams signed a three-year, $24 million extension, with $1.5M partial guarantee in year three. With this season included: four years, $31M. https://t.co/aWWHnAluQV
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 7, 2018
Williams signing a contract extension with the Clippers certainly puts a bit of a damper on the trade deadline. The high-volume scorer was expected to be one of the main trade targets for contenders looking to upgrade their bench.
Williams being out of the mix could be good news for teams like Memphis or Atlanta, two teams that do have veteran scoring options to trade in Tyreke Evans and Marco Belinelli. With one less scorer on the market, the prices could be raised to get those players.
