The hazing culture in the NBA is no secret, and few stories top the time Lou Williams was tricked into slapping his head coach, Maurice Cheeks.
Williams was just 18 years old, fresh out of high school when Chris Webber and Allen Iverson dared him to get drunk and then smack Cheeks on the back of the head.
When Lou Williams Smacked Maurice Cheeks on the Back for $15,000
Williams entered the league during the 2005–06 season after the Philadelphia 76ers picked him 45th overall. His veteran teammates? Chris Webber and Allen Iverson. And they wasted no time pulling him into their wild games.
“I was a rookie for the 76ers… I’m a dead-serious athlete, 18, never drank, never smoked, straight out of high school—and Allen Iverson is my idol,” Williams said recently on the Underground Lounge podcast. “I looked up to him, but they knew I was a kid… and they would mess with me all the time.”
“After a game, they were like, ‘Young fella, you had your first drink yet?’ I said, ‘I don’t drink. I let you old [expletives] drink.’”
Webber then bet Williams $15,000 to drink three beers. Williams did it—and won the bet—but needed help getting to the team plane.
“They had to literally carry me on the plane,” he said. “So I get on the plane, and Chris Webber says, ‘Hey, I’ll give you another $15,000 if you take your shirt off and go smack Mo Cheeks on the back of the head. Mo Cheeks is our head coach. Cash is on the table.’
“I took my shirt off, ran to the back of the plane. He sees me coming and says, ‘Why do you have your shirt off on this plane?’ I said, ‘Sorry, Mo,’ and smacked the [bleep] out of him.”
Luckily for Williams, Coach Cheeks took it in stride.
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“He laughed because he knew what was going on,” Williams said.
Williams played fewer than five minutes per game as a rookie and didn’t do much scoring that season. He stayed in Philly for six more years, but it was his time with the Lakers and Clippers when he shined.
He last played in 2021 for the Atlanta Hawks and finished his career with 13,396 points off the bench—an NBA record.
