The Mavericks made a change to their starting lineup in Monday’s game against Phoenix, benching Grant Williams in favor of Tim Hardaway Jr., tweets Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. The other four starters were Luka Doncic, Dante Exum, Derrick Jones Jr. and Dereck Lively.
While Hardaway is starting on Christmas, head coach Jason Kidd said before the game that once Kyrie Irving returns from his heel injury, the starting five will be Doncic, Irving, Exum, Jones and Lively, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN (link).
Williams, a 6’6″ forward who was acquired in a sign-and-trade with Boston, inked a four-year, $53.4M deal as a restricted free agent this offseason. He had started all 26 games in which he appeared this season for Dallas, averaging 9.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 1.8 APG on .422/.399/.656 shooting in 26 contests (29.2 MPG).
Exum (two years, $6.15M; only 2023-24 is guaranteed) and Jones (one-year, minimum salary) signed far less lucrative contracts than Williams, but they’ve both been playing well, especially lately. The Mavs have a plus-14.7 net rating in their 190 minutes on the court together, MacMahon adds.
Williams came off the bench for the majority of his four seasons with the Celtics, so it likely won’t be a difficult adjustment for the 25-year-old. Still, it’s a noteworthy change for Dallas, which currently holds a 17-12 record, good for the No. 5 seed in the West.
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