Amari Williams, on a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics, wants to follow the lead of teammates Luka Garza and Neemias Queta and secure a lasting NBA career as the new season begins. His first opportunity comes when Boston open the 2026-27 season at the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, October 20, at 8pm.
Williams’ two-way deal allows him to play for both Boston and the Maine Celtics, the franchise’s G League development affiliate.
Garza was the 52nd pick out of 60 in the 2021 draft and earned a standard NBA contract by way of a two-way deal at Minnesota. Fellow center Queta went 39th in the same draft, arrived in Boston on a two-way and was promoted to a multi-year standard contract in April 2024. In July, he signed a four-year extension worth $56m (£42.3m) that runs to 2031.
Williams now wants to make his own place in the NBA permanent. The Brit was the 46th pick in the 2025 draft and has already experienced that first promotion. Boston converted his original two-way deal into a standard NBA contract in February, but the 24-year-old returned to a two-way arrangement in July.
The Nottingham center, the first British-born player in Celtics history, has been studying both Garza and Queta.
“[Garza and Queta] have been there before me. They both started on the two-way and they’ve taken me under their wing, always giving me words of encouragement or telling me what to do in situations,” Williams said.
“Having guys like that who care about me and help me any way they can has definitely helped me a lot over the past year.”
The night Williams ended Detroit’s run
Williams has already shown he can make an impact at NBA level, and his most significant moment came against the team Boston faces on opening night.
Last November, Boston brought the center up from Maine without warning. He played a career-high 15 minutes against a Detroit team riding a franchise record-equalling 13-game winning streak.
With 4.4 seconds left and Boston a point up, Pistons star Cade Cunningham missed a free throw that would have tied the game. Williams got the first hand on the ball and tipped it to Payton Pritchard, who gathered the rebound and then made two free throws at the other end. Detroit’s 13-game winning streak was over.
“I didn’t have any idea I was gonna play, to be honest,” Williams told CelticsBlog afterwards.
Williams, who represented Great Britain in EuroBasket pre-qualifiers in August, knows opportunities can arrive without warning.
“With those things it’s never determined. There’s always opportunities available and whether they call you up or not, you just got to be ready for that moment,” he said.
A crowded frontcourt to break into
Williams faces considerable competition for minutes in Boston, who added significant reinforcement at his position over the summer.
Mitchell Robinson arrived from NBA champions New York on a three-year deal worth $47.4m to share the middle with Queta. Garza started Game 7 of Boston’s first-round playoff defeat by Philadelphia. Chris Cenac Jr, a 6ft 11in forward and center, was the 27th pick in June’s draft.
“To be honest, it’s just about learning from those guys,” Williams said. “I feel like I’ve got a great set of bigs ahead of me who are experienced in the league and have had the same kind of pathway as me.
“I look up to all those guys. All those guys are older than me, more experienced.
“So I’m not really sure about the impact part, but for me it’s just about learning and being ready for opportunity when it comes.”
Jayson Tatum and Paul George can both operate at power forward, while Sam Hauser and Jordan Walsh also compete for minutes. Dillon Mitchell provides another option on a two-way contract.
Williams will likely need to impress for Maine again to earn more opportunities with Boston, but Queta shows that patience can pay off. The Portuguese center spent two seasons on the bench for the Celtics before starting 75 of his 76 appearances last term. He averaged 10.2 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting a franchise-record 65.3 percent from the field.
Queta was in contention for the Most Improved Player award for his performances in his fifth NBA season.
The number that sets Williams apart
Williams has a skillset that distinguishes him from many players of his size. Across 28 G League games, he averaged 15.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.8 blocks in a little over 29 minutes a night.
The assist number stands out. Almost five a game from a 6ft 11in center is an impressive return and helps explain why Boston have highlighted his passing ability.
He has also produced standout individual performances. On January 3, Williams scored 33 points and grabbed 16 rebounds against Capital City. A month later, he hit an overtime game-winner at Sioux Falls.
Through his first 23 G League appearances, he shot 61.3 percent from the field, well above average for players in his position.
He carried that form into the summer. In Boston’s Summer League opening victory over Toronto, he scored a game-high 23 points from nine field-goal attempts, along with 13 rebounds and two blocks.
“We won that game, and it was a very close game, we won in overtime,” he said. “So having that game gave us that confidence, and it being the first one, it definitely set the tone for the rest of the games for us.
“I feel like it went well. We had a good record – I think it was three and one. So to have a winning record again is something we kind of took pride in.”
Nottingham, Drexel and a family decision
Williams’ route to the NBA was unusual, especially for a British player. He left Nottingham at 16 and spent four seasons at Drexel University, where he was named Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year three times between 2022 and 2024.
He then moved to Kentucky, where he started all 36 games and averaged 10.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 blocks. According to Boston’s official account of his college career, he also finished with more assists than any seven-footer in the program’s history.
The Nottingham Forest fan remains proud of his roots and the basketball community that helped him develop.
“I feel like Nottingham is an underrated city,” he said. “We have the Wildcats arena, which is essentially for the women’s league. We have the Nottingham Hoods. We had teams around, and at the time we had Nottingham Nova, that’s who I started playing for.
“It was one of the best teams for a while, always a top four in the country. Having that around me when I was growing up, it was easy to get into the game and have guys who I looked up to and inspired me to play.
“Once it came to my age groups, I felt like I was one of the better players in the country, and it just took off from there.”
Williams has already made the journey from Nottingham to the NBA, and from a two-way contract to a standard deal. As Boston begin their new campaign against Detroit, his next challenge is to establish himself there for good.