Lou Williams just came off of winning his third sixth-man of the year trophy at the NBA Awards on Monday night which is an award he first won with the Toronto Raptors back in 2015. The Raptors have been in the news recently thanks to the fact they won their first ever NBA Championship this year. During the offseason, they will be trying to get Kawhi Leonard to stay with the team which according to Lou Williams, will be a tough task.
Williams plays for the Los Angeles Clippers who are one of the teams in the hunt for Leonard. In a recent appearance on Gilbert Arenas' podcast, Williams had a lot to say about what it's like to play in Canada as an American and why the Raptors have trouble keeping big-name talent.
Per Williams:
“The problem they’re gonna have is keeping guys there. Once you’re there, you’ll love playing for the Raptors, you’ll love playing for the country, ’cause it’s [basically] the whole country. The that fourth, fifth month of the season you’re like goddamn, I wanna go home. When you play in Toronto, you feel like you’re playing overseas. It feels like it. You can’t wait to go on the road sometimes, just to be in America. It’s little things you don’t think of like the channels on your TV, your phone bill, you have to get like a Canadian bank account. Things you don’t really think about. And then you have kids and you’re raising your kids out in Canada. Once you’re there, you’re like ‘oh, this is dope’ — but the hard thing is keeping guys.”
Considering Williams probably wants Leonard on his team, these comments are dangerously close to what is considered tampering by the league. Doc Rivers has already been fined for his praise towards Leonard so who knows what could happen to Williams here.
Stay tuned for updates on free agency as we will be sure to bring them to you.
[Via]