Forward Grant Williams heaped praise on the Dallas Mavericks’ roster Wednesday after arriving in a trade from the Boston Celtics.
In an interview with Jared Weiss of The Athletic, Williams expressed excitement about the team as a whole and seemed to take particular delight in the prospect of playing alongside Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving:
“The talent on this team is absurd. Kyrie and Luka, being able to put two superstars of that nature, two top 10 players or whatever you want to say, Kyrie is one of the best point guards in the league still. As well as those young guys they have to grow and compete like [Olivier-Maxence Prosper], they drafted Dereck Lively. The Seth Currys, the vets in the world, they’re really talented.”
Williams, who was a restricted free agent, signed a four-year, $53 million contract as part of a sign-and-trade deal between the Mavericks, Celtics and San Antonio Spurs.
The Celtics received two second-round picks in exchange for Williams, while the Spurs received veteran wing Reggie Bullock and an unprotected 2030 first-round pick swap with the Mavs.
Williams is joining a Mavs team that is in a unique position in that Dallas reached the Western Conference Finals two seasons ago before missing the playoffs completely last season.
Dončić essentially carried the Mavericks throughout the 2021-22 season. Jalen Brunson did emerge as a second star during the playoffs in particular, but he signed with the New York Knicks in free agency and helped take them back to the playoffs.
With Brunson gone, the Mavs made multiple moves to try to put more talent around Dončić, but the biggest was undoubtedly acquiring Irving from the Brooklyn Nets at the trade deadline.
Kyrie is an eight-time All-Star, one-time NBA champion and surefire future Hall of Famer, but injuries limited him to 20 games after the trade to Dallas, and he didn’t mesh as seamlessly with Dončić as hoped.
That resulted in the Mavs missing the playoffs, although Irving was productive after the trade, averaging 27.0 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per contest.
The 24-year-old Dončić also enjoyed another MVP-caliber season, averaging a career-high 32.4 points per game to go along with 8.6 rebounds and 8.0 assists.
Dallas doubled down on the Dončić-Irving duo working out over time by signing Kyrie to a new three-year, $126 million contract this offseason.
The Mavs don’t yet have the third star that teams so often search for, but Williams joins a solid nucleus of role players that also includes Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber, Richaun Holmes, JaVale McGee, Dwight Powell, Josh Green and Curry.
It was easy to overlook Williams’ contributions in Boston at times since he was playing on a star-laden team led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, however, he is coming off a career year that saw him average 8.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.5 three-pointers made per game.
Williams is exactly the type of player contending teams covet come playoff time, and he has a chance to be the ideal complement to Dončić and Irving in Dallas.
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