Appears in SLAM Issue 237. Published April 11, 2022 at slamonline.com
It’s a little after 9 a.m. on the first Wednesday of March and Celtics forward Grant Williams can’t help but lean back in his Mavix M9 gaming chair and reflect on how appalled he was when news dropped the day prior that the New York Liberty had been fined $500,000 for chartering flights.
It was a reminder to both Williams—the youngest VP of the National Basketball Players Association—and women across the sports landscape of why the efforts of organizations like the NBPA are so vital.
“We have to support our players because we want the best products on the court,” Williams tells us via Zoom. “See how it goes and see that the value of not only the W but how the value of the brand of the WNBA will grow.”
From the moment Williams stepped into the League out of Tennessee, the 23-year-old has been devoted to making the landscape easier to traverse for future players while growing their individual brands at the same time.
As a rookie during the Players Association’s annual winter meeting during the 2019-20 season, Williams ran for a VP role in the executive committee against Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyrie Irving. Ultimately losing out to the now Brooklyn guard, Williams’ run planted the seeds within the minds of the Board of Representatives of the unique vision he could bring to the role. (READ THE FULL STORY HERE.)