Despite his elite play and appearing confident on the court, Lou Williams revealed that off-the-court murmurs got to him and his Los Angeles Clippers teammates.
The ongoing pandemic of 2020 significantly impacted play across multiple professional sports leagues, including the NBA. The NBA suspended play in March of 2020 and resumed games in July with a new setup based in Walt Disney World.
Nicknamed “the bubble,” the makeshift format allowed play to continue, albeit without fans and several players who opted out. Since that season wasn’t under typical conditions, fan chatter started to build up that any team that might win the NBA Finals that year wasn’t really a champion.
According to Williams, who spoke about the 2020 season on a recent episode of Trae Young’s From The Point podcast, the talks among fans got back to the Clippers and affected the team. The Clippers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals despite having a 3-1 series lead.
Warning: NSFW language.
Around the 13:30 mark of the episode, Williams says the team “just wasn’t built for the bubble” and indicates that it was disappointing because they had championship aspirations, but they really didn’t want to be there.
That revelation is making the rounds on social media again, including where Williams says that pressure from fans and the perceived disrespect of a potential championship didn’t sit right with players.
Lou Williams talking about his best chance to win was with the Clippers bubble team. He says, “We started to hear the rumblings that nobody is going to respect this chip so we kind of just took our foot off the gas”
This was our BEST chance man, hurts to hear it 💔 pic.twitter.com/lPcmPGvtsk
— Jacob 🦴 (@Jacobtheclipper) November 13, 2023
Sending thoughts and condolences to Clippers fans everywhere.