For the past four seasons, Grant Williams endeared himself to the Boston Celtics faithful by playing his role to the best of his ability. Williams embraced the dirty work, defending the opponent's best player often while being one of the best marksmen in the league from the corners. However, Williams knew that the writing was on the wall with regards to his stay in Beantown after the team's decisions over the past calendar year.
Speaking with JJ Redick on the retired sharpshooter's podcast, The Old Man and The Three, Williams admitted that he knew that he was on the way out from the Celtics franchise after the team traded for Kristaps Porzingis earlier this offseason to bolster the team's frontcourt.
“I had a pretty good understanding from the start. I probably like even just before free age even happened, before Kristaps we made the trade, I was like, probably won't be back,” Williams said.
Even then, the Celtics' trade for Kristaps Porzingis was just the final nail in the coffin. The team certainly started hammering away on the Grant Williams departure casket earlier, especially when the 24-year old didn't have the most secure role in the rotation to end his stay in Boston.
“… The role kind of was a little bit diminished up and down in that last year, and I was coming back to a situation that was going to be a similar position probably. And then you add Kristaps, and that made kind of like a hundred percent guarantee of moving,” Williams added.
The good thing is that Grant Williams doesn't harbor any bad blood towards the Celtics even though he's moving on to a new journey in his career with the Dallas Mavericks. He's just looking forward to helping another team with playoff aspirations to the best of his ability, and he should have a huge role to play with the Mavs in the next few seasons.
“Not because of anything bad or anything like that, was just more so, like opportunity elsewhere and also where I wanted to see myself in my career and how it was going. I want to win, but I also want to compete in impact winning and be of value to a team both on and off the floor,' Williams said.