Most people would love to get into an Ivy League school, but Boston Celtics rookie forward Grant Williams actually passed on such an opportunity coming out of high school.
Talking with teammate and fellow first-year player Tacko Fall on a recent episode of their shared podcast — the appropriately-named Grant and Tacko Show — the Charlotte native related why he turned down not one but three such Ivy League offers.
Despite having cousins — Salim and Damon Stoudamire — in the NBA, his family did not expect Williams to go down that path. And initially, only two collegiate teams recruited the North Carolinian, Boston College and Tennessee.
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Williams’ mother, an electrical engineer for NASA, hoped her son would accept an offer at one of the trio of Ivy League schools that offered him admission — Princeton, Yale, or Harvard.
But after attending a nearby private school known for its basketball program, the future Celtic became hooked on the game, to the point that his NBA dreams began to overshadow the academic interests of a self-professed nerd.
“My mom always said she believe in me. But she didn’t really care about basketball. All she cared about was the academics,” Williams offered.
“So I was like, ‘I’m just going to do it for myself. I’m just going to prove to myself and prove to y’all that I can do it.’ I was always so worked up about what others thought about me, but then I just said I’m going to be myself and be me and hopefully that’s enough and I’ll make it enough.”
It ultimately led Williams to choose the Volunteers because of his belief that Tennessee was his best option to get to the NBA.
And it turns out he was right, with head coach Rick Barnes aiding in the transformation of the forward’s body and approach to the game, helping to mold the player that became Boston’s No. 22 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
“My mom was pissed. Didn’t talk to me for two months,” he added.
WATCH: Grant William's best defensive plays of 2019-20 https://t.co/A4SDQ3WQCq
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 22, 2020
His mother was always supportive — she would drive hours and hours, across the country from Texas to see his games — but given her background it’s understandable why she was as irked as she was initially.
Still, it’s clear even today being a professional athlete hasn’t changed how Williams continues to embrace his intellectual side, whether in his interest in the uber-nerdy board game Catan, or even in his analysis of basketball.
While he might have passed on the Ivy League for his undergraduate education, he’s always got graduate school should he consider a return to higher education post-basketball.
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