Los Angeles Clippers sign veteran guard Lou Williams to contract extension

LOS ANGELES — The L.A. Clippers today announced that the team has signed guard Lou Williams to a multi-year contract extension. Per club policy, terms of the agreement were not announced.

“Lou is an extremely valuable member of our team. Both on the floor and in the locker room, Lou exhibits many of the characteristics that we value. He is professional, committed, and very competitive. We are excited that he will continue his impressive career as a Clipper,” said President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank.

“I am very happy to be staying here in L.A. as a Clipper,” said Williams. “It’s a great organization with a positive culture and I like where we are headed as a basketball team. We have a great group of guys here. I have been on a lot of teams and a lot of times these situations don’t always go my way, this one did and I am thankful for that.”

Williams, the NBA’s leading bench scorer (22.0 ppg), is averaging career-highs in points (23.3), assists (5.3), three-point percentage (38.0%), free-throw percentage (90.0%) and minutes played (32.5) in his 13th NBA season. He led the NBA in points scored in January (423) and is one of only nine players this season with 15 or more games of 30+ points. Williams has been named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week twice this season (Week 11 and Week 13).

Williams scored a career-high 50 points, including a franchise record 37 second-half points in a January 10 road win over the Golden State Warriors, the highest scoring performance by a Clipper since Charles Smith tied a franchise record with 52 points on Dec. 1, 1990. He set a franchise record with 10 steals on January 20 at Utah, becoming the first player on record to register 30+ points, 10+ steals and 7+ assists in a single-game. On January 26 at Memphis, he became the first player to tally 40+ points and 10+ assists in a single-game off the bench since reserve stats were first tracked in 1970-71.