After the Celtics summer league game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Grant Williams spoke with media onsite in Las Vegas. One of the big questions posed was the status of contract negotiations between the forward and the team as the new league year approaches. The two sides will have up until the start of the 2022-23 NBA season in late October to reach an agreement, otherwise Williams will enter restricted free agency next offseason with the Celtics being able to match any offer coming his way.
Grant Williams on why the Celtics lost in the finals: “It was our discipline.”
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) July 12, 2022
Boston and Williams have yet to fully engage in negotiations, but the latter isn’t too concerned about it with roughly three months until the start of the season. “We have a lot more things to accomplish I feel like as a team in case,” said Grant Williams, “If not, whenever Brad’s comfortable, that’s when we’ll start.”
Williams was an integral part of Boston’s Finals run, and had a career year from behind the arc, shooting 41.1% from deep on 3.4 attempts per game. With Al Horford another year older and one year removed from free agency, keeping Grant Williams around will be crucial for Boston to continue their stretch of success under Ime Udoka.
“I think both parties are hopefully mutually understanding that we want to get this thing done and make sure that we come together and have a successful next few years,” Williams said. “Because I love Boston, I love the fact that I not only get to be there and be around the team that I’m with, cause I have great relationships with the guys. But I also just love the city and being able to live there.”
So far, Boston has made clear that they’re all-in on this group and unafraid to put their money where their mouth is concerning their roster. Shortly after the start of free agency, the team pulled off a deal for Malcolm Brogdon without touching their core rotation players and inked veteran sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari to a two-year deal. Williams spoke highly of the acquisitions, and what he expects them to bring to Boston this coming season.
“Those guys are amazing, I love Malcolm. I have a great relationship through the board (Player’s Association). Danilo is a phenomenal person, and then I had a chance to get to know him through the Harvard Business program that we did as well as just around the league. You hear great things about both of those guys, and at this stage in their career, they’re focused one thing, and that’s winning. I feel like that’s what the best part about our team is, there’s not much individuality. It’s gonna be more so like everyone is focused on that one goal and we know we want to accomplish it. We know that we fell short of it last season, and we want to get back there and do it again.”
It’s promising to not only hear that a core member of the Celtics is excited about the acquisitions, but reaffirms the goals of this team as they move onward into this season. Here’s hoping more good news continues to roll out as Grant Williams and the team continue to hammer out details over his next contract.
