Robert Williams III has had a difficult first year with the Portland Trail Blazers, fresh off his split with the Boston Celtics last season, but that hasn’t discouraged franchises around the league — especially playoff contenders — from monitoring the 26-year-old’s availability ahead of opening night.
Williams was limited to six games in 2022-23 before suffering season-ending right knee surgery to repair a torn ligament, with an average of 6.8 points on 64.5% shooting success on the court with 6.3 rebounds. The Trail Blazers, who were without the 6-foot-1, blocker-hunting center, finished worst in the Western Conference with a 21-61 record and had the seventh overall pick, selecting 6-foot-4 Donovan Clingan of UConn on draft night. That leaves Williams struggling on Portland’s depth chart and prompts the team to consider some potential commercial returns for the Texas A&M product itself.
“A guy to watch and who is very tradeable is the Time Lord – one of the great nicknames in the entire NBA – Robert Williams, who is coming back from injury,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on The Hoop Collective podcast. “Obviously, he’s a guy who’s had injury issues over and over again, but he’s a $13 million guy that they might be willing to part with, that could go to a contender and be a big piece. … The guy is potentially a difference-maker defensively in a playoff series.”
Windhorst continued ESPN’s “NBA Today”:”I would say any team looking for a center will be watching Robert Williams closely this year. … I think the Knicks will be one of the teams watching him.”
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With Boston, Williams has been one of the most productive and impactful bigs in the conference. Whether under head coach Ime Udoka or Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics could count on Williams to stick to a traditional center’s playstyle of defending the interior, jumping absurdly high to hunt down blocks, and giving his teammates an easy lob target on the other end of the court. Williams didn’t become the No. 1 option on the line until former Celtics general manager Danny Ainge envisioned in 2018 — the night Williams was drafted — but when healthy, the six-year veteran has proven to be a well-above-average complementary piece. Teams with a No. 1 big man could use Williams as a co-big to form a lethal forward line, leaving opponents to work around the interior force.
Williams averaged 7.4 points, seven rebounds and 1.7 blocks in five seasons with the Celtics, earning a four-year, $54 million contract extension with the team in 2021. He recorded a career-high in blocks (nine) against the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs, then recorded his second-high (five) a year later against the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals.
