Grant Williams: Boston Celtics teammate always told me to shut up, hated me
Grant Williams shared a humorous anecdote on The Cedric Maxwell Podcast about how former Boston Celtics teammate Daniel Theis hated him and would always tell him to shut up during the Tennessee product's first season with the Cs.
“I remember Theis," Willams said (h/t Heavy Sports). "This is the perfect example. Theis hated me, I think, when I first got to Boston. Hated me. He’d always tell me to shut up and stuff like that. We went to a couple of dinners, and he started getting comfortable around me. Now, he’s one of my closest friends.
“I always tease him like, I remember back in the day, you used to treat me wrong as a rookie, and it wasn’t because I was a rookie. He was like, ‘Yeah, I couldn’t stand you.'”
Perhaps this was the basis for Mike Gorman's seemingly out-of-nowhere attack on Williams' character in March.
“He was annoying to everybody. I think, initially, everybody thought he was kind of a wise-ass, but he’s kind of cute, and he’s kind of funny,” Gorman said of Williams (h/t Boston.com). “Then it just kind of wore thin. It got thin in Dallas, obviously. …He had some issues in that area that if he doesn’t get rid of, he doesn’t have enough for teams to say, ‘Well OK, but despite that, we’re going to keep him here because he’s a great player.’ He’s not.
“He’s an extra. An eighth, ninth, or 10th guy on your roster, so those guys are very replaceable. The guy’s a bad locker room guy. If you’re a bad locker room guy, you’re an eighth or ninth guy, you’re not going to be the eighth or ninth guy for long because you’re not going to be on the team for long.”
Grant Williams defended by Boston Celtics teammates but narrative damage is done
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum stuck up for Williams, but the damage to the forward's narrative has already been done. His Celtics tenure will now be believed to have ended because he was annoying to teammates -- which does genuinely seem to be the case at least during his rookie season -- and his run on the Dallas Mavericks ended even quicker because Luka Doncic was not a fan.
Luckily, Williams is in the perfect franchise right now. The Charlotte Hornets have nothing resembling a veteran leader and have practically no expectations from a fanbase that ranked second-to-last in attendance during the 2023-24 season. There's a legitimate chance for Williams to rebuild his value and even become a fan-favorite on the Hornets if he can continue his across-the-board improvements in Charlotte.
As for a Celtics reunion? At this point, most fans would probably pass knowing that Gorman doesn't approve, nor does two-time former (and possible future) Celtic Theis.