Grant Williams leaves Celtics in signing and trades with Mavs

After four seasons in Boston, Grant Williams would head west.

Williams, who became a restricted free agent last week, is heading to the Mavericks in a three-team sign-and-trade deal involving Boston, Dallas and San Antonio, by Athletic’s Shams Charania.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Williams agreed to a four-year, $53 million deal to facilitate the deal.

While the Mavericks will add Williams to help strengthen their frontcourt, Adam Himmelsbach from The Boston Globe reported that Boston will get two second-round picks and one second-round pick trade in 2025.

The Spurs will also receive Reggie Bullock and an unprotected Dallas pick trade in 2030.

According to Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHypethe Celtics will earn a traded player exception worth approximately $6.3 million as a result of the signing and trade.

If Boston had finally signed Williams to the same deal as Dallas, he would have landed in the second luxury tax apron and increased his luxury tax bill by $40 million.

Last fall, representatives for the Celtics and Williams discussed a contract extension that could have reached around $50 million over four seasons, according to The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. However, the conversations broke down after the two parties could not agree on the collateral structure.

Williams’ new contract with Dallas is in a similar price range.

Drafted by Boston in the first round (22nd overall) of the 2019 NBA draft, Williams has become a reliable bench option for Boston in his final two years with the team.

He was key to a pair of deep playoffs for the Celtics in 2022 and 2023, giving Boston 3-point shooting, rebounding and defensive intensity in a reserve role.

But after a breakthrough in the Boston Finals, Williams enjoyed an up-and-down 2022-23 campaign under freshman coach Joe Mazzulla.

Even though Williams posted career highs in points (8.1) and rebounds (4.6) per game, he struggled to earn consistent minutes in Mazzulla’s rotation, especially at different stages of the playoffs. playoffs.

Williams, who underwent hand surgery last month but is expected to be ready for the start of the 2023-24 season, noted last week that he is keeping an open mind about his future in Boston.

“No matter what,” Williams said. “I don’t have a lot of control over that because I allowed my agents and everyone else to focus on that because all my focus and goal was always to win. The success of the he team has always been the most important thing. Brad [Stevens] and these guys, if they decide to keep me and bring me back, of course I’m going to come back and be excited, happy, ready to play for the Celtics.