Draymond Green shares theory on why Grant Williams fouled Jayson Tatum against Celtics

In a bizarre scene Friday night, Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams, a friend and former teammate of Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, crashed into Tatum, who was bringing the ball up the court after a defensive rebound, knocking the Celtics star down. on during Boston’s win 124-209 at the Spectrum Center.

Williams received a Flagrant 2 rating and was ejected from the game, although there were a little more than two minutes left in the contest. Tatum’s teammate after the game Jaylen Brown picked off Williams’ foulcomparing it to Ray Lewis’ tackle, and even questioning Williams’ supposed friendship with Tatum. Williams told reporters that the play was “definitely not intentional.”

But Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who competed against and beat the likes of Tatum, Williams and Brown in the 2022 NBA Finals, didn’t believe Williams’ explanation. The Warriors star took to X (formerly Twitter) after the Celtics-Hornets game and called out Williams.

Green then called Williams an “idiot” for smiling during the post-match press conference.

But perhaps his most interesting tweet in a series of four he sent out was one in which he theorized why Williams would do such a thing to Tatum, who he called “one of my closest friends in the league.”

“He’s mad at JT about something lol…” – wrote Green. “He should have left it in Boston lol. JT called and the dude let out his frustrations about it.”

In essence, Green suggests that Williams, who was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks in a July 2023 sign-and-trade, may have harbored a grudge against Tatum, whose Celtics won a championship ring without Williams last season. There were no reports that Tatum was lobbying — or not lobbying — the Celtics to keep Williams. And Green is just spitting here.

But this is certainly an interesting theory.

The defending champion Celtics improved to 5-1 with Friday’s win, while the Hornets dropped to 2-3.