Lou Williams, 3-time Sixth Man of the Year, announces retirement after 17 seasons

Lou Williams is retiring from the NBA after 17 seasons, the 3-time Sixth Man of the Year announced with a YouTube video narrated by his daughter, Jada, on Sunday.

The 36-year-old walks away as the league's all-time leading bench scorer after playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers.

He most recently played during the 2021-22 season for the Atlanta Hawks.

Williams came off the bench in 1,001 of the 1,123 regular-season games he played during his career and scored 13,396 points in those appearances. Overall, he recorded 15,593 points, which ranks 131st in NBA history.

He notched 2,117 more points off the bench than Jamal Crawford and 2,249 more than Dell Curry. Crawford is the only other three-time recipient of the Sixth Man award.

Set to the tune of Kendrick Lamar's "Count Me Out," Williams' retirement video tells a story of a realized dream despite adversity at every turn.

Initially pegged as a potential lottery pick during his decorated prep career, Williams' stock nosedived during pre-draft workouts. Williams was eventually selected by the 76ers with the 45th pick of the 2005 NBA Draft and went on to carve out a hard-fought legacy.

What he was able to accomplish in his own niche garnered him plenty of nicknames. You might know him as "6 Man," which is heard in Drake's song with the same title. The rapper dropped it as part of a campaign for Williams to win the award in 2015 when he played for the Toronto Raptors — which he did.

He could also be remembered as the "Underground GOAT." In January 2020, Williams explained the origin of the nickname following a 32-point performance for the Clippers against the New York Knicks.

“I’m the GOAT next to all of the superstars. I’m your favorite player’s favorite player," he said.

Eight months later, he trademarked "Lemon Pepper Lou," the nickname he earned when he was forced to quarantine in the NBA bubble for a 10-day period after he was spotted inside Atlanta's Magic City strip club with rapper Jack Harlow.

Williams even has a wing called the "Louwill Lemon Pepper BBQ" named after him there.

Jada acknowledged those monikers in her narration of the retirement video published on Father's Day.

"Many will have nicknames for you. But you are a mentee, a teacher, a great friend, a son, a brother and our father," she said.

Williams has another daughter named Zoe and a son, Syx. He thanked them all as he shared the video on Instagram.

Opening up to Uninterrupted about his rough upbringing in Atlanta three years ago, Williams talked about how basketball changed his life and his hope to help the next generation. He gave Jada as an example, who was just beginning her journey with the sport at the time.

Now, he's coaching her eighth-grade AAU team and she's earned her own nickname, "Jdub."