4:08pm: The Celtics confirmed Williams had surgery to repair a tear of the radial collateral ligament of the third metacarpo-phalangeal joint on his left hand. He is expected to make a full return to basketball activities in six-to-eight weeks, per the team.
3:32pm: Reserve Celtics power forward Grant Williams went under the knife for hand surgery today, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The surgery was considered successful, according to Wojnarowski, who says the team anticipates Williams will be available in time for the start of training camp this fall.
The 24-year-old incurred the injury in March, per Woj, but opted to play through it to finish out the season. Williams found himself in and out of Boston’s playoff rotation en route to an eventual Game 7 Eastern Conference Finals loss against the Heat.
Williams is a restricted free agent this summer, and is coming off a career regular season run. In 25.9 minutes per game, the 6’6″ vet out of Tennessee posted averages of 8.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists across 79 appearances.
Because he played over 2,000 minutes in 2022/23, Williams has met the league’s “starter criteria” for restricted free agents, and has thus seen his qualifying offer get a $2MM uptick, to $8,486,620. There has been speculation that Boston may look to offload one of its three combo guards, Malcolm Brogdon, Marcus Smart or Derrick White, in an effort to retain Williams this summer.
I dont think it should be assumed that hes coming back at all.
I agree. It feels 50/50 to me at this point. I’m not sure which of the 3 players listed would be most likely to be moved anyway.
Here come the Celtics fans “wE WoUlD hAvE wOn It AlL iF gRaNt WaS hEaLtHy!”
We would have. Dude was obviously MVP but everyone a hater.
They “may” have won it all with a better/more legit coach.
Everyone says we, the Celtics, need to make a trade to get our payroll down. I would hate to lose any of the players mentioned above: Grant, Brogdon, Smart or White. All are terrific for us. I do think Payton Pritchard needs to play minutes somewhere next season so I guess I do expect some type of trade to get him the opportunity. Go Celtics!
Still need a real PG, a real coach and another better center
Oh, I’m with Celtics Brad Stevens. Our Celts have the talent we need to win a title. We just have to play better & smarter together. Cut down on our two young stars being ball stoppers. Pass first & let their offense come to them. And find a better style of defense to cut down on opponents open & uncontested threes. Go Celts!