Grant Williams Explains Hard Foul On Ex-Celtics Teammate Jayson Tatum

Grant Williams brought Friday night’s Celtics-Hornets matchup to a violent place when the ex-Boston forward aggressively fouled Jayson Tatum in the fourth quarter while Charlotte was fighting back from a nine-point deficit at Spectrum Center.

Tatum dribbled the ball past half-court on a fastbreak push and got shoulder-shoved by Williams out of nowhere. The officials reviewed Williams’ bush-league shove, charged him with a flagrant 2 foul and ejected him with 2:02 minutes remaining in the game, leaving the entire Celtics bench in a state of shock and confusion.

“I think at the time of the game, that’s probably what stressed the flagrant 2,” Williams told reporters, per Bobby Manning of CLNS Media. “It was a transition opportunity and I was trying to make a play on the ball. I did reach across his body and probably when you slow down the replay it looks like I make a play and I just go after it. JT’s one of my closest friends in the league. There’s no intent to try and harm him in any way. It was just one of those plays where a fast, full speed.”

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Jaylen Brown rushed to Tatum’s defense to offer a few choice words to Williams. Tensions didn’t escalate beyond that point, Tatum dusted off the unnecessary football-like play and the Celtics came away with a 124-109 victory to improve to 5-1 on the season, taking the first of a back-to-back in Charlotte.

Williams, meanwhile, isn’t stressing out over Boston’s interpretation of the play.

“I don’t think anybody thought it was a malicious intent by any means cause you don’t see anybody running up to me — Neemias (Queta), (Derrick) White, none of those guys,” Williams explained, per Manning. “JB was frustrated just because you don’t wanna hurt your teammate and stuff like that, and I understand that. There was nothing, in my mind, that was difficult or intentional. (Jaylen said), ‘That’s what we doing Grant?’ Or something like that. It’s just like, no, no. He knows me too well and stuff like that. It’s just a hard foul.”

Williams spent four seasons with the Celtics before departing two offseasons ago, albeit with a controversial reputation. Former team play-by-play commentator Mike Gorman labeled Williams a “bad locker room guy,” last season just before Tatum stood against all of the bad press Williams was getting at the time.

This time, it might be hard for Williams to win back support from Boston’s locker room. Before Friday night’s game, Williams mentioned that he planned on inviting members of the Celtics over to his residence in Charlotte, but from the vibe given off by Brown alone, Williams might be better off inviting Charles Lee and LaMelo Ball instead.

“Actions speak loud,” Brown told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “It is what it is. We got the win, we move on. There’s no place in the game for that. I thought JT and Grant was friends. I guess not. … Everybody saw the same thing, right? Non-basketball play.”

Williams also finished with six points in 30 minutes off the bench, making the bone-headed foul on Tatum his cherry-on-top moment to wrap up a junk performance.