Celtics Commentator Calls Grant Williams A ‘Bad Locker Room Guy,’ Jayson Tatum Disagrees

Boston Celtics commentator Mike Gorman said Grant Williams was a “bad locker room guy” during his tenure in Beantown. Upon seeing Gorman’s comments through NBA Central, Celtics star Jayson Tatum reacted on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Grant Williams= Great teammate! https://t.co/JYHCavRNC3

— Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) March 13, 2024

Tatum and Williams were teammates on the Celtics for four seasons. They were close friends, so seeing Tatum support Williams is not a surprise. 

The Celtics traded Williams to the Dallas Mavericks last summer via a sign-and-trade deal. Williams appeared in only 47 games with the Mavericks before getting traded to the Charlotte Hornets. 

The Mavericks were determined to move Williams at the NBA trade deadline, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Williams wasn’t in good shape in Dallas and rubbed people the wrong way. 

“I would say one of the ways that Grant Williams rubbed people the wrong way, the yap, yap, yapping obviously that’s kind of part of it with him,” MacMahon said on The Hoops Collective Podcast with Brian Windhorst. “Which it’s charmingly obnoxious if he’s productive and it’s grating when he’s not. But he didn’t report in good shape and Grant Williams not in good shape is not a good defender. Grant Williams has proven throughout the course of his career when he gets in shape he can be an impactful defender. But that’s not the guy that the Mavericks got.”

Williams averaged 8.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists with the Mavericks before getting traded to the Hornets while shooting 41.3% from the field, 37.6% from beyond the arc and 74.5% from the free-throw line. 

According to Mavericks assistant general manager Michael Finley, Luka Doncic went on a 26-6 run by himself during a scrimmage after Williams kept talking trash to him.

Doncic and Williams have the same agent, Bill Duffy.

“I remember, just to share a quick story with you guys, one day in practice, a player on our team, I won’t call his name out, but it’s Grant Williams, he decided he wanted to get under Luka’s skin,” Finley said on 105.3 The Fan. “He felt Luka didn’t come that day ready to practice. To make a long story short, they had a scrimmage going and he was talking trash to Luka up and down the court. So finally, Luka says okay and Luka went on a 26-6 run by himself. You can ask anybody, I’m not exaggerating. He showed everything. The 3s, the post-ups, the floaters, everything by himself.”