As expected, veteran guard Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year for the third time earlier this week. Crawford’s third award for being the best bench player in the league is a record putting him ahead of Detlef Schrempf, Ricky Pierce and Kevin McHale who all won the award twice during their careers.
With Crawford beating out the competition with relative ease this season, his predecessor, Lou Williams of the Los Angeles Lakers, took to Twitter to congratulate him. Williams also made a suggestion that makes a lot of sense once Crawford’s NBA career comes to an end:
They should put @JCrossover face on the 6th man trophy. Lol #posterchild congrats bro
— Lou Williams (@TeamLou23) April 19, 2016
Last season, Williams helped lead the Toronto Raptors into the NBA playoffs after another brilliant year as one of the elite bench players in the NBA today. Williams was instant offense as a reserve for the Raptors and helped keep the pressure on opponents while stars Kyle Lowry and/or DeMar DeRozan were taking a breather.
For his efforts, Williams won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year and put the league on notice that he was still one of the top scorers in the league. Although unable to work out a new deal with the Raptors, Williams ultimately landed with the Lakers in free agency.
Williams signed a three-year deal with the Lakers and continued to produce at a high level every time he was on the floor with nearly identical numbers to his breakout season last year in Toronto.
Unlike in years past, Williams played a different role in Los Angeles starting in 35 of the 67 games he played. The veteran guard has only a started 89 games throughout his 11-year career in the NBA.