Former Tennessee turned Boston Celtics star Grant Williams, known for being one of the more talkative guys in the NBA, was feeling it on Saturday afternoon after the Vols advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Following Tennessee’s win over five-seed Duke in the second round of the East Region, Williams decided to troll and talk a little trash to Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum, who formerly played for Duke during his college days.
“J.T.,” Williams said until he had Tatum’s attention in the video. “**** Duke.”
The NSFW video, from Williams’ Instagram account, was edited by NBA on ESPN and posted to Twitter.
Grant Williams letting Tatum know about Duke's loss in the tourney 🤣
(via grantwill2/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/7VGnkwyDRw
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 18, 2023
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Tatum only played at Duke for one season during the 2016-2017 season. In that year, Tatum scored an average of 16.8 points per game while leading the Blue Devils to an ACC Tournament championship in 2017.
Tatum entered the NBA during the 2017 draft where he was selected as the third overall pick in the draft.
Two years later, during the 2019 NBA Draft, the Celtics drafted former Tennessee star Grant Williams with the 22nd overall pick.
The two players became teammates and quickly were known as one of the funnier duos that the NBA had to offer.
That friendship may have been put to the test on Saturday, though, with Williams’ Vols eliminating a red-hot Duke team from the NCAA Tournament despite public opinion being heavily in favor of the blue-blood Blue Devils.
Speaking of the Sweet 16, that was also Grant Williams’ last game in a Tennessee uniform. The last time Tennessee reached the Sweet 16 was the 2019 tournament game against Purdue with the Boilermakers knocking the Vols out of the tournament in overtime. Williams ended that game with 21 points in a strong attempt to continue Tennessee’s season.
Four-seed Tennessee will now head back to the Sweet 16 in 2023 after the 65-52 win over five-seed Duke on Saturday afternoon in Orlando, FL. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more details on Tennessee’s game next weekend in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
