Mo Williams has signed a deal to come back to the Cavs.
So, these are happy days for him, but it wasn’t so long ago that Mo thought about quitting the NBA over LeBron going to HEAT.
Let’s hit the wayback machine to September 2010.
Williams said he was so depressed by James’ exit that he considered walking away from the NBA.
“That’s how bad it got,” Williams said. “I contemplated it. I really sat down and envisioned life after basketball. …I really saw myself not playing.
“It just didn’t make sense to me. …It doesn’t make sense to me.”
“As anyone tied to the Cavs, you want to be in denial,” Williams said. “…You never want to say, ‘Yeah, OK, he’s gone.’ ”
Williams didn’t hide his disappointment, even tweeting in the hours after the announcement that he hoped James would change his mind. Williams also publicly expressed his regret for how James broke the hearts of Clevelanders and for the earlier firing of coach Mike Brown, who had lost James’ support.
“I had to get it off my chest,” he said.
Williams said he and James remain friends, but he’s also tried to use the past two months to move on.
“You get back here to Cleveland, get around the new coaching staff, start a few workouts, get around the young guys and basically accept the fact that we are not what we once were,” he said. “We don’t have the No. 23 jersey hanging in the locker before every game now.”
“This summer was very, very stressful for me,” Williams said. “I really lost a lot of love for the game this summer.
“You play this game for one reason. You play to win games and win championships. I couldn’t understand why a lot of things were happening to our organization, to a really good basketball team. I couldn’t really understand it. And when you don’t understand things, it can really stress you out.”
“This summer was very, very stressful for me,” Williams said. “I really lost a lot of love for the game this summer.
“You play this game for one reason. You play to win games and win championships. I couldn’t understand why a lot of things were happening to our organization, to a really good basketball team. I couldn’t really understand it. And when you don’t understand things, it can really stress you out.”
“It’s crazy because ever since [James left], everybody I see, they approach me and say, ‘Hey, you’re going to be able to play your game now,’ ” Williams said. “ ‘You are going to be able to show everybody what you got,’ or ‘you’re going to be able to do this.’ I was happy with my role. We were winning basketball games. I was coming home every night a winner.
“Who can’t love that? That is what playing a role on a team is all about. …Everybody can’t be the star. I was perfectly comfortable being that piece.”
Good news was that Mo eventually got over it and had some productive seasons with several teams, before finally coming back home to LeBron.