Grant Williams and Jayson Tatum were teammates for four seasons on the Boston Celtics from 2019-23. Prior to the Celtics playing Williams’ current team, the Charlotte Hornets, the six-year veteran said it was “special” to see his former teammates win the NBA championship last season.
“Honestly, I didn’t really feel down because I left Boston,” Williams said, via CLNS Media’s Noa Dalzell. “I wasn’t one of those, where, if I had gotten traded out of there, like there was some bad blood, it’d been different.”
Some might question that “bad blood” remark after Williams laid out Tatum with a hit more appropriate for an NFL game than an NBA matchup toward the end of Boston’s 124-109 win over Charlotte on Friday. With 2:02 remaining in the game, Tatum grabbed a rebound and brought the ball up to court. Williams ran at him at halfcourt and laid him out with a shoulder check.
Williams was called for a Flagrant 2 foul and was ejected from the game.
“Grant Williams accelerates, makes a significant impact to the dribbler,” referee James Williams explained in upgrading the foul to a Flagrant 2. “A non-basketball play, potential for injury.”
Looking at the play, it’s difficult to argue that Williams was attempting to go for the ball. Perhaps he was trying to force a turnover with the score 114-105. But he just ran into Tatum, leading with his shoulder. As the referee stated, “a non-basketball play.”
Tatum walked away without confronting Williams, perhaps just wanting the game to end. Maybe he knows how his former teammate sometimes plays. But Tatum’s current teammates, notably Jaylen Brown, appeared to feel differently, yelling at Williams as he left the court.
Following the game, Brown ripped Williams, saying the collision was intentional.
“Actions speak loud. It is what it is, we got the win, but there’s no place in the game for that,” Brown said, via the Boston Herald. “I thought JT and Grant were friends. I guess not.”
“What are we talking about? Y’all see the same play that I was seeing?” he added. “He hit him like it was a football play, like Ray Lewis coming across the middle or something. It is what it is. Grant knows better than that.”
Talking to NBC Sports Boston, Williams claimed he wasn’t trying to hurt Tatum.
“I think it was more so he didn’t see me more than anything else,” Williams said. “Like, I’m reaching, and I definitely made contact with the body before I reached.
“Probably a hard foul; definitely not intentional. I’m not trying to hurt him by any means. We all know that’s one of my closest friends in the league.”
Tatum led the Celtics with 32 points and 11 rebounds, making 11-of-13 free throws. Williams had six points, seven rebounds and five personal fouls before being ejected. LaMelo Ball led the Hornets with 31 points.
If anyone is holding hard feelings over Williams’ flagrant foul, that could become apparent quickly. The Celtics and Hornets play again on Saturday for the second leg of a back-to-back.