Late in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game between the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets, Grant Williams body-checked his former teammate Jayson Tatum in the open court.
Tatum’s longtime co-star Jaylen Brown seemed to take exception to the foul, as he ran up to Williams after the play and didn’t look pleased.
Williams was subsequently ejected from the game after he was assessed a flagrant foul for his hit on Tatum.
According to the Boston Globe‘s Gary Washburn, Tatum and Williams chatted after Friday’s game. Williams reportedly apologized for the foul against his former teammate, and Tatum, despite being annoyed, accepted the apology.
A major reason why Williams’ foul has seemingly garnered so much attention on social media is that he and Tatum were teammates on the Celtics for several seasons. The two played alongside each other for four seasons — from the 2019-20 season through the 2022-23 campaign — and both were members of the Celtics when the team reached the 2022 NBA Finals.
Tatum even stuck up for Williams back in March when Boston’s now retired play-by-play commentator said that the 25-year-old was “annoying” and a “bad locker room guy” when he played for the storied organization.
Williams is in his first full season with the Hornets after he was traded from the Dallas Mavericks to Charlotte ahead of last season’s trade deadline. He’s been a serviceable role player so far this season, as he entered Saturday’s action averaging 9.4 points per contest while knocking down an impressive 45.8 percent of his looks from 3-point range.
Tatum, on the other hand, has looked like a real MVP candidate so far in his eighth season in the NBA. He entered Saturday’s action averaging 30.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. Plus, after he really struggled to score from 3-point range during the 2024 NBA Playoffs, he entered Saturday with a solid shooting percentage of 37.1 from deep this season.
The Celtics and Hornets are in action for another matchup against each other on Saturday.
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