Grant Williams officially ended his time with the Boston Celtics after the 2022-2023 season. The process of being a restricted free agent was not easy for him or his loved ones, but it all ended when he signed a new contract to play with the Dallas Mavericks.
The process of a player leaving one team to join another is not as easy as people think. When a player becomes a free agent, things are easier. However, when a player is an RFA (restricted free agent), that is when the challenges begin.
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The Boston Celtics had to allow Grant Williams to leave because they could not afford his asking price to play for another four or five seasons with the franchise.
What did Grant Williams say about being an RFA?
In a recently published article on the Dallas Mavericks official website, Mavs.com, Grant Williams opened up with Eddie Sefko about his deal to leave Boston, which he referred to about his RFA status as: “Very difficult. Restricted free agency is terrible,” “Unrestricted, you have a good understanding of where you want to go, but restricted, you’re pretty much in a waiting game.”
The restricted free agents in the NBA are the players who can sign an offer sheet given by another franchise and must wait for their current team to match the offer so that he can stay, but three days passed and the Celtics had no other option but to let Williams go. On that point he referred: “You want to make sure you understand what the offers are but also understand that teams might match or a team might be asking for more than another team is willing to give. It’s definitely an interesting process. I still think free agency is a little bit fun, but also a little bit nerve-wracking.”
Williams played with the Celtics from 2019 to 2023 and earned over $11 million during his time with the team. He is expected to earn about $52 million over the next four years with the Mavericks.
