The Boston Celtics play the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night, which means another opportunity to have fun at Grant Williams' expense.
Williams spent his first four seasons in Boston from 2019 to 2023 before the Celtics traded him to the Mavs in July. He and his C's teammates had a playful relationship, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in particular taking plenty of good-natured jabs at Williams and Williams giving it right back.
In that context, here's Brown's reply Sunday night when asked if he was excited to see Williams in Dallas on Monday.
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"Not really," Brown deadpanned after Boston's win over the Rockets in Houston. "No, I love Grant. I'm sure he'll be ready to have an annoying game, but we've just got to come out and be the best version of ourselves."
We'd imagine Tatum would use the same adjective to describe Williams, but make no mistake: Tatum, Brown and their teammates have plenty of love for the 25-year-old forward, who brought levity to the Celtics' locker room and cemented his place in franchise lore with a 27-point outburst in Game 7 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Williams made his living as a solid "3-and-D" player in Boston and got off to a strong start in Dallas, averaging 14 points through his first eight games while hitting 52.9 percent of his 3-pointers. He's cooled off considerably of late, however, averaging just 6.6 points on 30.4 percent 3-point shooting in his last 30 contests.
Given the nature of his relationship with his former Celtics teammates, though, Williams will want to show out against Boston on Monday night.
"It’s going to be cool seeing all those guys,” Williams said Sunday, via Mavs.com. “I had four great years with them and that organization. They’re playing their tail off right now, so it should be a competitive game."
" ... I’m thankful for the time that I had there for four years, and it’ll be great to be able to catch up."
Tip-off for Celtics-Mavs is set for 8:30 p.m. ET, with coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston with Celtics Pregame Live.
