Grant Williams Reflects On ‘Immature Act’ Toward Celtics Star

Grant Williams and Jayson Tatum developed a close relationship during their four seasons together with the Boston Celtics.

But the bromance between the two went through a major obstacle in November thanks to Williams.

Williams unleashed a blindside hit on Tatum in the open court that sent the Celtics star tumbling to the floor in a game in Charlotte. Williams was assessed a flagrant 2 foul on the play and was ejected.

Tatum didn’t offer much of a reaction in the aftermath of the reckless play, but Jaylen Brown had words for Williams on the court and then called out his former teammate for causing an “intentional” collision. Things were so icy initially that Williams expected several Celtics players to bail on a planned dinner at his house following the game.

But five months after the incident took place, it looked like Williams and Tatum were on good terms as they hugged it out after the Celtics beat the Hornets at TD Garden this past Friday. It took Williams owning up to his mistake and talking it over with Tatum and his family to smooth things over.

“Me and J.T. are cool. That’s my dawg, forever,” Williams told CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning. “No matter what happens in our life, I’m gonna have his back and I believe he’s gonna have mine as well. I made an immature act. When that happened, I reflected on it and at the time, I think I kind of brushed it off. It’s helpful that the injury gave me a perspective, too. It’s just like making sure you’re not only doing things the right way, but also competing and stuff like that and recklessness. So I was able to have have that conversation and that’s being two mature men, that’s a guy that would do anything for me and I feel like I’d do anything for him as well.”

That was the start of a difficult season for Williams. His campaign ended much sooner than he would have liked when he tore his ACL in late November.

Being sidelined certainly gave Williams plenty of time to think about what happened between him and Tatum. And Williams feels one more thing still needs to occur to make sure they can keep moving forward with their friendship.

“(Tatum) will always be family,” Williams said. “I told his mom, ‘You gotta curse me out soon.’ I don’t know when it’s gonna happen, but she has to.”