Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey announced Thursday that the team has acquired guard Lou Williams from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for guard/forward Corey Brewer and the Rockets first round pick in the upcoming 2017 NBA Draft.
Williams was originally the 45th overall pick by Philadelphia in the 2005 NBA Draft out of South Gwinnett High School near Atlanta. In 12 NBA seasons, he is averaging 12.8 points, 2.9 assists, and 2.1 rebounds in 759 career games with 90 starts. Williams was Sixth Man of the Year while playing for Toronto in 2014-15.
This season, Williams is averaging a career-high 18.6 points in just 24.2 minutes per game. In NBA history, the only player to average at least 18.0 points in 25.0 or fewer minutes played was Freeman Williams (19.3 ppg in 24.1 mpg) for San Diego in 1980-81. Williams also ranks fifth in the NBA in fourth quarter scoring this season with 7.7 ppg. He scored a total of 137 points off the bench over a four-game stretch from Dec. 3 through Dec. 9, marking the highest four-game total by a reserve since starts were tracked by the NBA in 1970-71.
Williams is shooting 44.4% from the floor this season, which would be his highest percentage since shooting a career-best 47.0% in 2009-10. He is averaging over two 3-pointers made for this first time in his career on a career-high 38.6% shooting. Williams is also shooting a career-best 88.4% from the line this season and 82.5% for his career.
Of reserves with more than one appearance this season, Williams has the highest scoring average at 18.7 points per game. Houston’s Eric Gordon is second with 17.5 ppg. Dating back to 2007-08, Williams has the highest point total (7,918) of any reserve in the NBA. Over that 10 season span, he also has made 348 more free throws than any reserve has attempted.
Brewer was originally acquired by the Rockets in December of 2014 as part of a three-team trade with Minnesota and Philadelphia. He appeared in all possible 218 combined regular season and playoff games as a Rocket.
