DALLAS — With Grant Williams looking for his big payday and a bigger opportunity last summer, the logistics of sticking with the Celtics always looked challenging. The C’s were going to be tight financially moving forward, and their deep depth meant that Williams was occasionally buried in the rotation.
So Williams sought out his next step during restricted free agency. Eventually, he was able to ink a four-year, $54 million contract with the Mavericks as part of a sign-and-trade. But that also meant saying goodbye to the only NBA home he knew in Boston. MassLive caught up with Williams before the Celtics beat the Mavs on Monday as the big man reflected on his four-year tenure with the Celtics from 2019-23.
“It’s more so just you never want to have any regrets,” Williams said. “I feel like up there, we really had three that we could say we really regretted. How we performed or how we stayed together, whether it was one year. It’s fortunate enough you have opportunities to keep going, but definitely you left in a sour position in the way of we wanted to win one. That would have been a great thing for us all.”
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Williams said he thinks there was a possibility he could have re-signed with the Celtics. He was open about his wanting to return to Boston, but the financials and other factors made it tricky. Eventually, the C’s created a $6.2 million traded player exceptions, along with acquiring future draft capital, in the Williams sign-and-trade with the Mavericks and Spurs. As Williams put it, they didn’t need to force any deal and instead were able to find a deal that worked for both sides.
Williams saw some great highs with the Celtics, making the East Finals in three of his four seasons, including the 2022 NBA Finals. He broke out as part of the 2021-22 campaign, showcasing 3-and-D skills as a versatile 6-foot-6 defender. There were struggles and hiccups, but the 22nd pick in the 2019 draft had his moments during his time in Boston and was well-liked in the locker room.
The Celtics altered their core significantly this summer, parting ways with other core piece members like Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III. All of those other ex-Celtics are with their new teams now, where they’ve bumped into each other. Earlier this season, Williams and Smart got together for dinner just like during their Boston days. But there wasn’t much reflection, Williams said.
“We don’t necessarily bring up our past just because, fortunately enough, we were able to maintain those relationships for the future,” Williams said. “We can always, 30 years from now, when we’re sitting over there having whiskey or cigars or something like that, then we can talk about it, about the times where we could have been.
“But right now we’re still in a moment where we all want to compete and really inspired to be more than what we are. So I think that’s where we have to fuel each other, is that now we can’t look back behind, we have to fuel each other to push forward.”
Williams has had an up-and-down season with the Mavericks so far as he hasn’t been in the starting lineup in recent games. He’s been a bit banged up, but that’s the case for most NBA players at this point in the season. Thus far, his counting stats have only had a modest increase across the board compared to last season. The Mavs play the C’s in Boston on March 1, so that’ll be the first time Williams gets to see his old stomping grounds in TD Garden.
“I’m enjoying it,” Williams said of Dallas. “It’s a great organization, great team, bunch of guys that really want to win. It’s an opportunity to compete and step into a role that I didn’t have before. And performance-wise, I definitely want to be better, definitely want to get healthier, want to get in a good frame. But outside of that, I’m just focused on the day-to-day. We have a long season.”
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