Lou Williams officially announced his retirement from professional basketball on Father's Day 2023. His retirement video was narrated by his daughter. Drafted 45th overall out of South Gwinnett High School in Georgia, Williams was one of the last high school draftees to ever join the NBA. In 2006, the year after Williams was drafted, the league prohibited teams from drafting high school players. Williams spent the first 7 seasons of his career with the Sixers. While Williams was a solid contributor, he was part of a Sixers team trying to find its identity after the departure of Allen Iverson. This was highlighted by Williams leading the Sixers in scoring during the 2011-12 season, despite starting 0 games for the team.
He went on to win three Sixth Man of the Year awards over a 17-year career. However, Williams also left his mark on the music industry. Having recorded several singles himself, Williams featured on Meek Mill‘s Sixers hype track, “I Want It All”. Elsewhere, Drake‘s “6 Man”, from his 2015 mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, was about Williams. Speaking of music, Williams recently revealed that a chance meeting with Jay-Z led him to decide to enter the draft out of high school.
Jay-Z Opened Lou Williams' Eyes To The Benefits Of Pro Play
Williams explained how Jay-Z lead him to forgo college on a recent episode of The Starting Five podcast. "My thing was, my senior year in high school, I started experiencing things. I had this one night — LeBron and Mav [Carter] introduced me to Jay-Z. I kicked it with Jay for a night, and I went to school the next day," Williams explained. That experience opened his eyes. "I was looking around the class, like, ‘I’m nothin’ like none of y’all [and] I started experiencing different shit."
He continued. "So I was like, ‘I’m not going to sit in another classroom after this,'" he continued. I literally can’t do it, you know what I’m saying? I don’t think that’s going to be the path for me.”That chance meeting led Williams to turn down an offer from the University of Georgia to go pro. All in all, Williams made $85 million from this NBA contracts. Furthermore, he leaves the game widely considered the best bench player/sixth man to ever star in the NBA. All because he met Jay-Z before he could legally drink. Furthermore, follow HotNewHipHop for all the latest music and sports news.
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