Grant Williams is a bit eccentric. So are the board games he likes to play apparently.
The Boston Globe’s Nicole Yang sat down with the Boston Celtics rookie to play a game called Settlers of Catan for a feature posted Tuesday, where Williams revealed he hasn’t yet been able to get his teammates to play with him.
He picked up a love for the game at the University of Tennessee, where he’d pass time playing with the basketball team’s video coordinator and other players.
Williams said Enes Kanter and Tacko Fall are willing to learn the game of strategy where players collect resources to build roads, settlements and cities on a hexagonal-shaped game board. He could see Gordon Hayward potentially being receptive, but is hesitant to ask the others.
“Look, look, I understand guys have lives to live and they don’t want to take an hour of their time daily,” Williams said after being asked if he’s asked Kemba Walker to play, saying the guard is “too cool for Catan.”
After insisting Williams never asked him before, displaying potential interest, Walker eventually admitted he probably wouldn’t be interested.
“It takes an hour? Damn, you’re probably right about that,” Walker said.
Williams called Jayson Tatum a long shot, and won’t even ask fellow rookies Carsen Edwards and Romeo Langford to play the original version or two special edition Catans that Williams donated to the game room at the Auerbach Center.
“Grant is his own person,” Langford said. “I’ve never met anybody like Grant. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, his nerdy side comes out.”
Until he can get Kanter and Fall up to speed, Williams plays by himself on his Nintendo Switch. He admits it’s not as fun, but gets the job done.
“They may not get it at first, but after they continue to play, they end up falling in love with it,” Williams said. “After the first game, you’re probably like, ‘All right, this is weird. I’m kind of confused still.’ But after two or three games, you really enjoy it.”
Williams is beloved by the Weird Celtics Twitter community, so don’t be surprised if Catan becomes popular among fans once they catch wind of the game.
