Celtics Coach ‘Excited’ for Grant Williams’ Future After Trade to Mavs

The Dallas Mavericks are excited to add Grant Williams’ 3-and-D skillset to their roster this season, and Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla shares that excitement for his former player.

Dalton Trigg | Jul 30, 2023

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Players switch teams all the time in the NBA, whether it’s through trades, free agency, or both, in some instances. Sometimes a player’s incumbent team is happy to see him go, like Dillon Brooks leaving the Memphis Grizzlies for the Houston Rockets in free agency. Other times, like in the case of Grant Williams, the player will be greatly missed.

As a restricted free agent, Williams agreed to a four-year, $54 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks, which was then completed as a sign-and-trade from the Boston Celtics. In a recent CLNS Media video, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla spoke about Williams leaving Boston better than he found it, and how he’s exited for his former player’s future in Dallas.

“Anytime you get a guy and you have someone that’s been with you for three or four years, I think the No. 1 goal is to leave it better than you found it and I thought Grant did a great job of that,” Mazzulla said.

“I’m excited for him to have an opportunity in Dallas, doing what he does best and I wish him nothing but the best and I appreciate also what he said.”

Although Mazzulla is excited to see what Williams can do playing alongside the likes of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, he’s also proud of the person Williams has grown into.

“There were a lot of relationships that I had as an assistant coach and he was a guy that I was able to get really close with over my few years here, along (with) a few others,” Mazzulla said. “And so, just grateful for who he is as a person and I’m excited for him as a player.”

By all accounts, Williams should be able to thrive with the Mavs, both on and off the court, and he’ll be greatly missed by the Celtics.

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Published Jul 30, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.