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Former Celtics center Robert Williams III

It was not easy, of course, for the Boston Celtics to send away popular big man Robert Williams–lovingly dubbed “Time Lord” in Boston after he missed his introductory media conference call when he was drafted in 2018–in a trade in 2023. The deal brought in Jrue Holiday, a key member of the Celtics’ championship team in 2024, so certainly, the ends justified the means. Besides, Williams and his chronically troublesome knees played just 26 games in his first two seasons in Portland. It was a win for Boston.

But Williams pulled together a productive year in 2025-2026, playing 59 games (second-most of his career) and averaging 6.7 points and 7.0 rebounds, with 1.5 blocked shots in 17.1 minutes. He was very good in the Blazers’ six-game series against the Spurs, too, with 9.6 points and 7.4 rebounds in 21.6 minutes, playing top-shelf defense.

It was good timing for Williams. That’s because the four-year, $48 million contract he signed originally with the Celtics is up, and he will head into free agency on a high note. That’s got the attention of the Celtics, who have a glaring need for a quality defensive center, but limited available funds to make it happen.

Celtics Need a Center

That makes a reunion with the Time Lord a possibility for the Celtics. The team would like to finagle a way to stay under the luxury tax this summer–or at least be in position to to get under by the trade deadline–and could potentially move Sam Hauser to clear the space to do so.

That could open a path for the Celtics to bring back Williams and still keep current starter Neemias Queta and backup Luka Garza on board. (The Celtics are almost certain to let trade-deadline acquisition Nikola Vucevic walk.)

Williams would not come back home to be a major-minutes starter, but rather, to help the Celtics fill what was an obvious void that really showed itself in the playoffs.

Robert Williams ‘Won’t Have a Shortage of Offers’

One Eastern Conference exec said there will be a bit of pushing and shoving required for any team hoping to land Williams, and that the Celtics would have considerable competition in adding him back to their mix:

“He won’t have a shortage of offers. In part because you know what he can do when he is healthy, he can protect the paint, he is such a good rebounder, he can step out and guard, he is still very athletic. You put all that together and of course you’re going to have teams interested. But you’ve got the injury history so that is probably going to hold his price tag down–he can’t go out and ask for more than the mid-level.

“But that means you’re going to have 15 teams or so who either have cap space or the mid-level, and it is a pretty high percentage there that would want a big guy who can defend like him even if it is for 20 or minutes a night. He will be popular out there.”