'Everybody Touched The Ball': Did Hornets' Grant Williams Take Shot at Ex-Mavs Teammate Luka Doncic?

After being traded to the Charlotte Hornets, Grant Williams had a solid first game with his new team, but then he seemingly took a shot at Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in his postgame interview.

The Dallas Mavericks were considered by many as being the biggest winner of the NBA trade deadline after they traded Grant Williams, Seth Curry and Richaun Holmes in separate deals with the Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards to acquire P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford respectively.

Gafford, Washington and Williams all had great debuts with their new teams, but Williams seemed to be the only one of the three to take a shot at his former team.

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After the Hornets defeated an injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies squad, Williams attributed the win and his 15-point, eight-rebound performance to ball movement and unselfishness ... which sparked speculation that he could've been throwing shade at his former teammate, Luka Doncic.

"It's great to get a win for the city and play for the jersey that's across your chest, not on your back," Williams said. "Everybody touched the ball, we trusted one another, a team that never played, practiced together, every single person seemed like they had each other's back."

Dazzling Debuts! Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington Breathe Life Into Mavs' Title Hopes

Things didn’t work out for Williams in Dallas, but that certainly wasn’t due to him not touching the ball enough. Over his final 34 games with the Mavs, Williams shot 38.4 percent from the field and 31.9 percent from deep while getting 6.2 shot attempts per game. More touches wasn’t going to be the answer there.

Despite the drama, the Mavs appear to be in a better place with Washington and Gafford, and Williams appears to be fitting into his new environment in Charlotte. Perhaps both sides can peacefully move forward without anymore cheap shots being taken.


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Dalton Trigg
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.