The Boston Celtics and Jayson Tatum had the opportunity to see an old friend in Charlotte. The Dallas Mavericks traded former Celtics forward Grant Williams to the Charlotte Hornets prior to the 2024 NBA trade deadline. On Monday night, he faced the C’s for the first time since joining the Hornets.
Tatum and Williams, who are still good friends, hugged before the tip-off:
Catching up with friends.@Grant2Will 🤝 @jaytatum0 https://t.co/ri6L6ANujV pic.twitter.com/W5LOSPMbYj
— Hornets On FanDuel Sports Network (@FDSN_Hornets) April 1, 2024
It was just trash talk between the former teammates after that. Throughout the game, the two could be seen chirping at one another, but Tatum emerged victorious, defeating the Celtics 118-104.
Jayson Tatum spoke about “brother” Grant Williams
Tatum was questioned about facing Williams after the victory. Tatum said,
“It was good,” “That’s my brother for life. So always good to see him, good to compete against him. So yeah, just having fun out there competing against each other”.
Not unexpectedly, the majority of Monday’s trash-talking came from Williams. He supported it with 23 points on 10 of 16 shooting, two assists, and seven rebounds. Jayson Tatum said,
“Grant always got some (expletive) to say,”
“But I just said, that’s my brother for life. And it’s cool, I don’t talk trash at all but if it’s somebody I’m close with — like today, Grant — I like to have fun out there. It’s always good to see him, compete against him, so we just had some fun out there.”
After a few of years of dominating in Charlotte, Tatum finished with 25 points (9-19 FG), 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. He’ll have to perform well once more on Wednesday night when the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder visit town.
Tatum’s whole post-game news conference is available to view below or on YouTube:
