Analyst: ‘Shouldn’t worry about’ why Boston Celtics gave up on RFA so easily

Dallas Mavericks fans shouldn’t worry about why the Boston Celtics gave up on Grant Williams, says The Smoking Cuban’s Justin Lee — who believes it was simply time for the Tennessee product and the Cs to go their separate ways.

“Williams is the perfect fit for what the Mavericks needed, and fans shouldn’t worry about why he was given up by Boston so easily,” Lee wrote. “It was simply time for his tenure with the Celtics to come to an end. In this case, Boston’s loss is Dallas’ gain.” Lee was responding to John Karalis of the Locked On Celtics podcast, who claimed that Williams had fallen out of favor with Joe Mazzulla.

“Money. I think it’s a combination of things; money and it’s Joe Mazulla,” said Karalis during an appearance on Locked on Mavericks. “Grant Williams just kind of fell out of favor with Mazulla. I think Grant may have gotten a little too ahead of himself offensively, and I think he got too caught up in being a restricted free agent.”

Grant Williams was no longer worth the price tag for the Boston Celtics

As Lee said, it doesn’t really matter what went wrong between Williams and the Boston Celtics — and there’s every reason to believe that the lack of playing time in a contract year caused there to be something wrong. The truth is, the Boston Celtics were never going to be able to justify paying Williams following the Kristaps Porzingis trade.

Al Horford could have several years left if preserved correctly, and having Porzingis and Robert Williams III certainly helps Mazzulla in that cause, and Williams’ extension would’ve made the eventual luxury tax sting of Jaylen Brown’s extension even more prolific.

Williams was a valued Celtic, particularly during the 2022 postseason run to the Finals, but his time is better spent moving forward in a place like Dallas; where he’ll be one of the top kick-out options for the two one-man offenses in the Mavericks’ offense, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.