Grant Williams honored to be finalist for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award

BOSTON -- Grant Williams received a special honor earlier this week, when the Celtics forward was named a finalist for the NBA's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award. The 24-year-old may not be playing much as of late, but he is no stranger when it comes to making a difference in the community.

To be a finalist for an award named after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and all that the NBA legend has fought for in society is a great honor for Williams.

"It means the world. For me in my life, I've always tried to give back in any way possible," Williams told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche. "I feel like it's my calling and it's one of my biggest passions. To be nominated for an award by a man who was very impactful in his own right during his time, it's super special and important to me. 

"I'm honored to be a nominee. No matter if I win or not, I'm going to continue to do the work that I'm doing both hear in Boston, abroad, and across the states," added Williams. "It's something that will continue to be a focal point of my life."

Williams has volunteered his time to be part of a number of the Celtics' social justice initiatives, specifically those for criminal justice reform. Williams led the team's Play for Justice event in September 2022, which advocated for the state of Massachusetts to pass the "Raise the Age" bill to gradually raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction to include 18 to 20-year-olds. 

Williams was one of the central voices during a roundtable discussion at the event, and went a step further by coaching one of the teams comprised of formerly incarcerated individuals when they played together in an exhibition basketball game. He has continued his efforts on that front by visiting a juvenile incarceration facility, as well as an adult prison to work with a cell-block unit comprised of fathers trying to break the incarceration cycle for their own children.

"It's something I'll remember forever," he said of those visits and the conversations he had with those who are incarcerated. "I think about how I grew up and what I was surrounded by, and I could have gone down a different path. It's one of those things, you always encourage those who are growing up with you or coming up after you to make the right decisions. One wrong decision could change a person's life. 

"That one decision shouldn't define some person, and how you're viewed shouldn't be defined by that one moment," said Williams. "We all have one moment in our life that we are not proud of."

Williams has also been at the front of the Celtics' Playbook Initiative, which trains and deploys high school students to work with middle schoolers to safely intervene when they see or hear acts of bias or discrimination in their community.  Williams helped to run the workshops as both a facilitator of the curriculum and a participant alongside the students.

And in addition to working to address Black maternal health inequities, Williams also played a key role in the creation and launch of the Celtics' program "Curbside Care," a life-saving mobile pre-natal and post-partum health clinic that visits 40 mothers and infants per week in the heart of Boston's Black and Brown community. The vehicle is equipped with full-time nurses, midwives, and community advocates to aid mothers in need.

"I'm in a great position with the Celtics and the NBA and I want to always remember that not everyone has the life that I have. To give back to those who are less fortunate or don't have the same opportunities I have in my life, I want to do that," he said. 

"I've had great mentors and great people around me that have really expanded my viewpoints on a lot of things within our society. Whether that is prison reform or when they get out, or our education system and the need to reform that as well, especially in certain communities, and then being a voice for a community that doesn't always have a voice," said Williams.

In addition to Williams, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., San Antonio Spurs guard Tre Jones, and Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul were named finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award.