Dallas Acquires Grant Williams in 3 Team Swap
The Boston Celtics may have acquired Kristaps Porzingis from the Washington Wizards, but they also lost a rotational player in Grant Williams.
A Sign-and-Trade Deal
After signing Kyrie Irving to a $126M three-year contract, the Dallas Mavericks are set to acquire forward Grant Williams, who’s played the first four seasons of his NBA career with the Boston Celtics.
In a three-team trade involving the Mavs, the Celtics, and the San Antonio Spurs, Williams agreed to sign a $53M four-year contract as part of a sign-and-trade deal to move to Dallas. In exchange, the Celtics will receive multiple second-round draft picks, while the Spurs acquire Reggie Bullock and a 2030 swap pick with Dallas.
Williams, 24, averaged 8.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 45.4% field goal last season with the Celtics- coming off the bench. His numbers dropped to 5.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists during the 2023 playoffs, as he oscillated in and out of the rotation.
Last month, he underwent surgery on his left hand, and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the 24-year-old power forward had been playing through the injury since March. Williams said he should be 100% at training camp.
Bullock, the 25th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, has been bouncing around the league of late. He’s yet to average more than 12.1 points per game in a season. In 78 regular-season games last year with the Mavs, Bullock posted 7.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. He shot 40.9% from the field, including 38% from three.
Who Won the Deal?
The Mavs have to be feeling better about their roster than they were last week. Williams is a better scorer than Bullock and is also younger. This is a welcome addition for the Mavs, who missed the play-in tournament last season despite trading for Kyrie Irving last February.
It’s likely Williams will take over the starting power forward spot next season.
The former Tennessee Volunteer will join a Dallas squad that recently added Richaun Holmes on top of extending Kyrie Irving’s contract The Mavs also drafted Oliver Maxence-Prosper and Dereck Lively II. And if Dallas works their magic on luring Matisse Thybulle from the Portland TrailBlazers, it will also solve the Mavs’ lack of a defensive stopper.
For the Celtics, who just lost defensive ace Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the Porzingis trade, losing Williams could be viewed as an addition by subtraction. There were several occasions last season where Williams’ poor decision-making cost the Celtics in crunch time. However, trading Williams will also hurt the Celtics’ depth.
With Williams gone, Coach Joe Mazzulla will have some decisions to make on whom he will choose as the primary backup to Kristaps Porzingis. The good news is the Williams deal nets the Celtics more draft picks in the future- picks they can use to regain depth.
For the Spurs, receiving a veteran in Bullock and a pick swap in 2030 aren’t necessarily a bad thing. If anything, this deal is a low risk one for San Antonio, who just nabbed what many call the best prospect since LeBron James in Victor Wembanyama. Under Gregg Popovich, Bullock could see his minutes rise again as the Spurs will undoubtedly be more competitive this season than they were in 2022-23.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.