17-year NBA veteran Lou Williams announces retirement

Lou Williams is the NBA’s all-time leader in bench scoring with 13,396 points off the bench.

ATLANTA (AP) — Lou Williams announced his retirement from the NBA on Sunday, ending a career after winning the league’s Sixth Man award three times and scoring more points off the bench than anyone in history.

Williams played for six teams — Philadelphia, Toronto, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston, the Los Angeles Clippers and Atlanta. He last played in the 2021-22 season with the Hawks.

Salute to an Atlanta legend.

Nothing but love from us & our city. Enjoy retirement, Lou Will! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/VLl0EnL7eJ

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) June 18, 2023

Out of 1,123 regular-season games played over 17 seasons, Williams came off the bench in 1,001. He scored 13,396 points off the bench, which is 2,117 more than Jamal Crawford and 2,249 more than Dell Curry.

Williams and Crawford are the only three-time recipients of the Sixth Man award in league history.

Williams was the 45th pick in the 2005 NBA draft. Out of the 60 players taken that year, only Chris Paul scored more points in the NBA than Williams — who went straight to the league out of high school.

He scored a career-high 50 points against the Warriors in 2018.

He finishes his career with 15,593 points, 131st in NBA history.