Mo Williams of the Cleveland Cavaliers has had a change of heart and has chosen to retire before the start of training camp and the 2016-2017 season.

After a contemplative summer following the Cavaliers’ championship win, Williams, 33, announced on September 21 that he would be returning to play one final season with a tweet that said, “Coming back #onemoreyear.” Now, less than a week later, Williams has decided that he will in fact not return to court in the upcoming season. Williams has one year remaining on his contract worth $2.2 million. 

General Manager David Griffin and Head Coach Tyronn Lue briefly addressed the decision at Cleveland’s media day press conference but chose not to go into too much depth about any sort of contract discussions, including the outstanding contract of J.R. Smith.  Griffin indicated that the team was prepared to deal with the situation going forward if Williams did choose to retire.

Williams spent a good portion of the 2015-2016 sidelined due to injuries.  According to multiple sources, a nagging knee injury played a major factor in his decision to retire.  Williams will wrap up his career following a second stint with the Cavaliers.  He played for the team from 2008 to 2011, then returned to Cleveland last season. 

Mo Williams has chosen to retire from the NBA. (Gregory Shamus/NBAE/Getty Images)
Mo Williams has chosen to retire from the NBA. (Gregory Shamus/NBAE/Getty Images)

Moving forward

After losing backup point guard, Matthew Dellavedova, to free agency in the offseason, the Cavaliers now have Kyrie Irving and second round draft pick Kay Felder at the point guard position. Second-year player Jordan McRae is also utilized by Lue at this position. 

According to Joe Vardon of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland has reached out to multiple players in hopes of filling the open spot at the point guard position. Amongst those players are LeBron James’s former Miami Heat teammates Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers, as well as Kirk Hinrich.   

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About the author
Raj Sawhney
Cleveland Cavaliers writer and fan!