Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics are officially through to the second round of the NBA playoffs after dispatching the Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat in an easy five games in the first round this past Wednesday. Tatum didn’t necessarily have to put up Herculean numbers in that series but received ample help from his Celtics superteam supporting cast, including separate outbursts from Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis, before the big man went down with an injury.
This Celtics team has been the class of the NBA all year after the offseason additions of both Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, who struggled a bit offensively against the HEat but had an elite series defensively. One key contributor from seasons past who did not return to the Celtics for 2023-24 was Grant Williams, who was a solid contributor off of the Boston bench for a few years but whose brazen attitude apparently at times rubbed people the wrong way.
Recently, Williams stopped by the Cedric Maxwell Podcast with, you guessed it, Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell, to react to some of the perceived disrespect that the Celtics have thrown his way since he left the franchise, including the lack of a tribute video that he received upon his return.
“I was a little bit disappointed just because I feel like there were some great years in those four years that I was there, I was a kid that got drafted there and I was a kid that grew up there,” said Williams, per Celtics on CLNS on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.
An interesting tenure
Grant Williams reached the highest of highs and the lowest of lows during his bizarre tenure with the Celtics. One need look no further than Game 7 of the 2022 conference semifinals vs the Milwaukee Bucks, in which Williams poured in a shocking 27 points to propel the Celtics into the next round, to see what an immense impact he made at times.
Then, there were some less proud moments, such as the two free throws he missed in a game vs the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023 after telling Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell that he was going to make both just seconds before. There was also the scuffle he got into with Jimmy Butler in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which then prompted Butler to go on a personal mini-run and put the Heat ahead 2-0 in that series, seemingly as a direct result of Williams’ trash talk.
In any case, some have speculated that teams with a history as storied as the Celtics only reserve tribute videos for true franchise icons, even if they weren’t necessarily star players, such as the immense love that Marcus Smart received in his Boston return earlier this year.
As for Williams, the former Tennessee Volunteer first took his talents to the Dallas Mavericks in free agency before the team traded him to the Charlotte Hornets, where he is currently still a member.
Don’t expect tensions between Williams and the Celtics to smooth over anytime soon.
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