While it’s not quite clear what team Mo Williams means, but it probably suggests that the Atlanta Hawks aren’t his number one choice, and someone like the Miami Heat are more likely it, with Williams declaring he’s willing to significantly lower his salary demands in order to play for a title.
The furthest the 10-year veteran has been during his NBA career is the conference finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009, playing alongside LeBron James. That was probably his best season, averaging 17.2 points per game and making the All-Star game for the first and only time in his career.
After one year with the Utah Jazz, in which he played only 46 games (has been injured quite a lot in recent years), averaging 12.9 points per game, Williams is looking for a new team, which initially looked like the Atlanta Hawks would be his next stop, after already playing for four different teams since 2003.
But the Hawks re-signed Jeff Teague, and that might mean that including Lou Williams, there isn’t a lot of room left for Mo Williams in terms of playing time. The Milwaukee Bucks can still add him and pay him better than anyone else in the NBA, but it’s not quite clear they’re planning to.
Beyond that? Most of the NBA can offer him minimum deals or some mid-level exceptions. Williams is a player who can still contribute quite a lot instead of being relegated to a minor role of 15 minutes a night. The question is how much of his salary (made $8.5 million last season, probably expecting around $4-5 million now) is he willing to give up? Is playing for a title good enough for him to take the veteran’s minimum, or is this just Williams trying to get more teams to send out offers to him in what has been a mostly quiet summer for the point guard?