Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams has been criticized publicly multiple times this season, especially after his stint with the Dallas Mavericks ended with a mid-season trade. After a Celtics commentator called Williams a bad teammate and annoying, Jayson Tatum defended Williams and called him a great teammate.
“Grant Williams = Great teammate!”
Grant Williams= Great teammate! https://t.co/JYHCavRNC3
— Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) March 13, 2024
Tatum is directly responding to what Celtics commentator Mike Gorman had to say about Grant, calling him a bad teammate and referring to his annoying habits.
“He was annoying to everybody. I think he — I think initially, everybody thought, ‘Oh, isn’t he kind of a wise a–, but he’s kind of cute, and he’s kinda funny.’ And then it just kinda wore thin, and it got thin quickly in Dallas obviously. If you start to take on [Luka] Doncic, you’re not gonna be around for long. So, yeah, he had some issues in that area that if he doesn’t get rid of — he’s not good enough to have teams say, ‘Well, okay, but despite that, we’re gonna keep him here ’cause he’s a great player.’ He’s not — he’s an extra. He’s an eighth, ninth, 10th guy on your roster, so those guys are very replaceable, especially if you get a guy that’s a bad locker room guy. If you’re a bad locker room guy and you’re the eighth or ninth guy, you’re not gonna be the eighth or ninth guy for long because you’re not gonna be on the team for long.”
here’s the clip for those who care https://t.co/BSLPUcOpBz pic.twitter.com/Ocq8roDL4F
— Owen O’Connor (@OwenOConnorNBA) March 13, 2024
Even if we can find reasons to disagree, two contending teams moved on from Williams in six months. The Celtics and Tatum might love him, but the team was more than happy to watch him leave over the summer. The Mavericks couldn’t wait to move off him after giving him a four-year contract in the summer.
Williams is having a good spell off the bench with the Charlotte Hornets, averaging 13.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.4 assists this season.
The Mavericks Shared A Story About Luka Doncic Cooking Grant Williams In Practice
After some harsh words from Grant about the style of play in Dallas compared to his bigger role in Charlotte, many people within the Mavs organization were upset. In addition, Grant’s reported demeanor in the locker room rubbed people on the Mavs the wrong way.
There’s an inherent lack of respect towards Grant, as indicated by Mavs’ Michael Finley openly sharing a story of Luka Doncic publicly cooking Williams at a practice.
“One day in practice, a player who I won’t name, but it was Grant Williams. He decided he wanted to get under Luka’s skin. He thought that Luka didn’t come that day ready to practice. To make a long story short, they had a scrimmage going, and he’s talking trash to Luka up and down the court. Finally, Luka says, ‘Okay’. I tell you, Luka went on a 26-6 run by himself. You can ask anybody, I’m not exaggerating. He went on a 26-6 run by himself. He showed him everything, the three, the post-ups, the floaters, everything, by himself.”
The story, to me, indicates Grant did his job in Dallas. He instigated a classic performance out of Luka, who according to Finley himself came with a lazy attitude to practice. You need players like Williams to keep the stars in check.
It just is tough when Williams averaged 8.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in 47 games in Dallas and then tried to tell Luka or Kyrie Irving what to do.
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